A cheeky website about deals, dealmakers and anything else I find interesting. Edited by Ben Harrington. If you have a tip, want to discuss a story or have a subscription enquiry please feel free to email Betaville at [email protected]. Betaville can also be reached at Whats App, Signal or Telegram. Betaville's Twitter handle is @bharringtonw11 and you can message me via Twitter with stories.
One of Britain’s largest chain of vets could be about to change hands for around £350 million.
[insert picture of a cuddly dog or cat here]
City sources said Summit Partners, the US-based private equity owner of Independent Vetcare (IVC), has been talking to corporate finance types about a sale of the business...
Several London-based Betavillers were rather interested in my RARE alert a few weeks ago about HM Treasury's potential changes to stamp duty.
Why?..
And here is the confirmation from Bpost:
Press release, 02/11/2016..
Lowland hacks over at Het Financieele Dagblad and De Tijd and have just landed cracking tales about Bpost preparing a fresh EURO 2 billion plus takeover bid for Post NL. Below is the link to their jackanories:
Here is a link to today's Tip TV session with the mischevious Zak Mir.
The £12 billion auction for National Grid's distribution business is hotting up and top M&A reporters are breaking stories left, right and centre.
Last week, for example, the Kleinmanator of Sky News published a good scoopette about how Hermes had joined a consortium of investors led by CIC, the Chinese state's sovereign wealth fund. Here is a link to Mark's piece:..
Remember Equities First Holdings?..
Some rather juicy RARE has landed in my lap.
It's a pretty simple tale: Walt Disney Co is said to be closing in on a multi-billion dollar takeover of micro blogging site Twitter after both companies agreed on a takeout price late last week...
I thought I might clarify a few things following a misrepresentation of my Coach / Burberry story by the "echo chamber"...
If your interested in my thoughts on last week's Burberry tale and this weekend's stories do click on the link below:
US retailer Coach is working with corporate financiers on a potential combination with Burberry to create a $20 billion luxury clothing giant, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
Coach has been talking to financial advisers from Evercore for several weeks about the potential deal, according to two sources familiar with the situation...
On second thoughts perhaps Jonthan Leinster, a scribbler over stockbroker Berenberg, should claim the this morning's BAT / Reynolds scoop. At 6:00 am this morning (so before the market had open) the analyst, who upgraded BAT to "buy", published a note raising the prospect of the London-listed tobacco giant buying the remaining 58pc of Reynolds that it doesn't own. I have pasted the salient paragraph below:..
It's taken two years but British American Tobacco has finally got round to confirming a piece I wrote in the The Times a couple years ago about the giant cigarette group hiring Deutsche Bank alongside UBS with a view to making a $47 billion bid for Reynolds American.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/consumer/article4086903.ece..
It's been a while since I aired some random RARE on Betaville but I came across an intriguing tale that I thought might be of interest to readers, especially those on the other side of the Atlantic.
Word is US housebuilder Meritage Homes Corporation has been working with investment bankers on a takeover of smaller rival William Lyon Homes...
I saw Lord O'Neill of Gatley, also known as Jim O'Neill, out of the corner of my eye whilst little old Betaville was at an informal meeting at the uber-suave Dover Street Arts Club (in Mayfair, London) yesterday afternoon.
Baron O'Neill, an economist, is the former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, former Conservative government minister and once helped lead the Red Knights' takeover bid for Manchester United Football Club...
Little old Betaville headed to the High Court today for the final day of the Property Alliance Group's case against Royal Bank of Scotland...
It would appear the piece I published a couple of weeks ago - https://www.www.betaville.co.uk/tags/avanti-communications/ - was bang on the money.
Today Avanti Communications announced this:..
My old friend Zak was in a good mood, so he wasn't too harsh on me this morning. Here is a link to today's session:
I guess Mark Kleinman's piece yesterday about David Cameron, former British Prime Minister, carrying out a speach for private equity firm Bain Capital just goes to show the buy-out house doesn't care which side of the politcal divide you come from. In case you missed it, here is a link to Kleinman's piece published by Sky News:..
Young bankers, hedge funders and property surveyors that frequent Mayfair's bars, restaurants and members' clubs might like to read Jim "Armo" Armitage's Focus piece in today's Evening Standard.
Why?..
[Disclaimer - the information on Betaville does not consitute any form of investment recommendation and is not intended to be relied upon by readers in making, or refraining from, any investment decisions].
