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.
Little old Betaville really has been making waves and causing trouble this week, with two of my recent jackanories ending up in reputable national newspapers this morning...
It's just hit the tape that US private equity and hedge fund manager Fortress is placing its 27pc stake in German property company Gagfah. Deutsche Bank is doing the placing for Fortress, which bought Gagfah in 2004 for £2 billion...
I see Jonathan Sorrell, the son of WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell, is up to his old tricks again...
I see Richard Berridge has been checking out my Linked In profile. For Betaville readers that don't recall, Mr Berridge is the chief operating officer of Ryan Corporation, the company behind last year's proposed scheme to build a 74-story residential skyscraper in Canary Wharf...
Here's a piece of advice for any hedge fund manager looking to substantially renovate their multi-million pound London pile: you are likely to irritate the other people that live in your street. ..
I wish I could write like Gary Parkinson, the market reporter over the The Times. Here is the reason why: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/article4106140.ece..
The missing skyscraper story I have been running on Betaville for the last couple of weeks really is worth keeping an eye on...
Huge hat tip to Dominic Walsh over the at The Times for his scoop on Mitchells & Butlers's "exclusive" discussions to buy the Orchid pub group for about £250m...
Sincere apologies - I forgot to highlight in my post earlier today that Weir Group offered some cash in its latest £8.5 billion merger proposal to Finnish engineer Metso...
Dealmakers round at Bank of America Merrill Lynch must be feeling pretty sore right now...
Gary Parkinson, the market reporter over at The Times, wrote another fantastic 'Trade Secrets' column yesterday.
Here is a link to Parky's highly amusing piece: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/article4100877.ece ..
The missing skyscraper story I did last week looks like it is really starting to heat up...
Sorry for the late posting Betavillers - I have been out and about all day...
Regular readers might recall that last week I published a rather interesting tale about Herstmere House, the residential skyscraper that was supposed to be built in Canary Wharf by a mystery Irish property tycoon. Here is a link to the original article: http://betaville123.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/the-dealmaker-bank-and-missing.html..
Great to see my old colleague and sort-of boss Alistair Osborne kick off his new job at The Times with a cracking column on the Pfizer/AstraZeneca takeover situation...
Wow - AstraZeneca has rejected Pfizer's fresh £55.00 a share offer.
Now, I have to admit I didn't see that coming. I thought the raise would allow both companies to at least start talking and get an extension to the "put up or shut up" deadline.
Indeed, one of my good sources on this story always thought this deal would deal would happen despite the public rejections from AstraZeneca and browbeating from British politicians...
Interesting to see most of the financial media (The Sunday Times, Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and Mark Kleinman over at Sky News) reporting today Pfizer is preparing to sweeten its offer for AstraZeneca to about £55.00 a share...
I'm not a huge fan of Canary Wharf (I used to work there when I first started on the The Daily Telegraph) but I have just stumbled across a rather interesting tale about the financial district and one of the banks based there. ..
Great news! Carphone Warehouse and Dixons Retail have finally confirmed the details of their £3.8 billion merger in a statement today. Here is a link to the formal announcement:..
[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].