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.
This isn't earth shattering news but I did pick an interesting nugget on the megabrew deal this evening...
Followers of my work will know that I have written a couple of pieces on the Tangle Teezer auction for the Mail on Sunday. Here is a link to the latest article published a couple of weeks ago:..
It's not just international FTSE 100 companies that are benefiting from a Brexit bounce driven by investors seeking companies that generate earnings outside of Blighty.
I'm hearing certain gold mining stocks, such as Lion One Metals, that aren't reliant on sterling, US dollars and Euros are also seeing strong interest from London-based investors looking to diversify their portfolios away from Brexit impacted currencies ...
Ah - now I understand why SAB Miller yesterday cancelled the "goodbye" leaving drinks for London-based investors, analysts and brokers.
The negotiations with Anheuser-Busch Inbev have now begun in earnest, with ABI this morning raising its offer to £45 a share.
Here is a link to ABI's new offer:..
I hear SAB Miller has just cancelled its "goodbye" drinks event scheduled for this Wednesday in London for investors, analysts and brokers...
The urbane Zak Mir and I caught up this morning to chew the cud. Here is a link to today's session:
Oh look - gaming companies Rank, 888 Holdings and William Hill have all finally confirmed my tale in this weekend's The Sunday Times about how Rank and 888 have been talking about merging with a view to then combining with William Hill.
Here are links to the announcements on the RNS:..
It turns out Brexit has in fact be rather painful for Crispin Odey, the charming fund manager who campaigned for Britain the leave the European Union.
Stock markets might have crashed the days after the referendum result but since then equity and bond markets have rallied substantially. In particular, London-listed equities that generate earnings abroad have been in serious demand, driving the FTSE 100 to an 11-month high this week...
I see Bloomberg was today badgering Dr Severin Schwan, the Roche chief executive, into providing a denial to my BioMarin story from a few weeks ago.
According to the Bloomberg story I read today, Dr Schwan said Roche was looking at small to medium-sized acquistions although he believes biotech valuations are "too high" even after the recent market correction...
Regular readers know that little old Betaville rarely does political stories, mainly because it's just not my main beat. But I stumbled across one the other day while on the rounds that I think is rather fascinating given what's going with the Labour party at the moment...
This morning there is news of another foreign takeover deal in the London market - US interdealer broker BGC Partners is purchasing UK-based equity derivatives house Sunrise.
Here is a link to the press release:..
Sorry about the delayed post Betavillers; I have been galavanting around Brussels most of today (don't ask why).
Anyway, I see both Masayoshi Son, the boss of Softbank, and Simon Segars, the chief executive of Arm, were both out on the front foot post this morning's announcement deal announcement, stressing today's mega deal had "nothing to do" with Brexit...
Wow! Softbank has just pounced on London-listed chip designer Arm Holdings with a recommended £24.3 billion takeover deal. Here is a link to this morning's RNS:
Oh look - I see Blackstone and D Carnegie have this morning confirmed this week's Tip TV tale about the US private equity firm sniffing around the Swedish property group.
Here are the links:
and this morning's news:..
I have a little update on the Cypress Semiconductors tale aired by the chaps over at FT Alphaville at the end of last week.
In case you don't recall, Bryce Elder of the Financial Times wrote on markets live last Friday about how a Chinese private equity firm, Summitview Capital, was trying to buy a US-listed company called Cypress Semiconductor. Here is a link to his piece:..
If your interested in watching me waffle on about M&A then click on the link below.
Last week there were a flurry stories in the British press about how active and succesful the Serious Fraud Office has been recently...
I have a little update on the Wirecard story I wrote about a few weeks ago.
Regular readers will be well aware that about a month ago I broke a story about how Wirecard is/was in talks with a mystery Chinese investor, thought to be China Mobile, about purchasing a 25pc stake in Wirecard or, possibly, the entire company...
Strolling down Mount Street (which is in the heart of Mayfair, one of the most salubrious parts of London) at 16:45 yesterday I spotted the charasmatic Crispin Odey chatting to a grey-haired friend (or business contact?).
Dressed in a blue (linen?) suit the fund manager from the upper eschelons of British society appeared to be on top form, laughing and smiling during his roadside chat with the grey haired bloke...
Unsurprisingly, I have had a few people on the blower whinging about my Mead Johnson story from March following yesterday's news about Danone agreeing a deal to buy WhiteWave for $12.5 billion.
In case you don't recall, I revealed in mid-March that Mead Johnson had begun working with the sharp suited types from Lazard following interest from Nestle and Danone...
[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].