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.
Today's wire reports out of Switzerland made me chuckle.
Apparently, Jean-Paul Clozel, chief executive of Actelion, told Reuters that "there's been absolutely no offer" to takeover the company.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg said "Actelion isn't fending off any takeover approaches, days after a media report cited the drugmaker as possible target for Sanofi or Johnson & Johnson."..
I turned up a little titbit on the M6 toll road situation whilst on the rounds today...
I see Pret a Manger - the up-market sandwich shop favoured by young bankers, hedge fund analysts and lawyers - has been basking in the glory of another set of strong results, with a significant amount of press coverage today. Here a few links:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f48d7a6-0613-11e6-9b51-0fb5e65703ce.html#axzz46NTfCqyl..
Wow - these "old" or "stale" deal stories are becoming quite fashionable.
Reuters has just unveiled an "exclusive" scoop revealing ChemChina made a multi-billion takeover approach for BG Group, which has just been bought by Royal Dutch Shell. Here is the link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-chemchina-bg-m-a-exclusive-idUSKCN0XG1UE..
I hadn't been on Tip TV for a while and was starting to wonder whether Moose, the owner of the channel, had got fed up with me.
Last week, though, I got the call inviting me on the show today, so here is the link:
http://www.tiptv.co.uk/finance/ma-outlook-exxon-mobil-abandoning-bp-takeover-deal/..
Kleinman, of Sky News, today published a rather intriguing story about a £6 billion takeover bid for J Sainsbury that has just been "abandoned". The thing is, the market never knew about this takeover bid in the first place...
The Chinese travel conglomerate really does have a voracious appetite for deals involving any European travel-related companies.
Earlier this week, HNA unveiled a $1.5 billion takeover of Switzerland's airline catering company Gate Gourmet. That deal comes after HNA purchased baggage handler Swissport last year for £2.3 billion.
The times they are a changin in the high-flying world of British economics journalism...
This is a bit of a wrinkle on a wrinkle but since little old Betaville broke the Argus Media Group sale story late last year I thought it might be worth airing the wrinkle here...
There was an interesting in line in the Daily Mail stock market report today about Wolseley merging with Travis Perkins. In case you haven's seen it, here is the link:..
The Telegraph interview with the head of the Serious Fraud Office caught my eye as I was re-reading recent business coverage. Here is the link:..
US biotech Relypsa shot up 67pc on Thursday thanks to this (see below) Reuters piece:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-relypsa-m-a-idUSKCN0X42B3
The thing is, I'm sure I mentioned on little old Betaville a couple of months ago something was afoot with Relypsa (from an M&A perspective). Here is the link:..
Oh look - I see my Rob Terry's outfit Quob Park Estate put a statement out last night after the market closed. The statement says his outfit now owns just over 5pc of Imaginatik, effectively confirming my tale from earlier in the week...
It's tough times for the chaps in pin stripe suits at stockbroker Canaccord Genuity.
According to my mole, the Canadian broker - which is de-listing from the London Stock Exchange - has placed a blanket ban on silver service dining at its smart, wood-panelled dining rooms and restricted client lunches to sandwiches.
I imagine old school City stockbrokers (not that there are many of them left) view such modern day restrictions as abhorrent...
Clearly, the Panama Papers was one of the biggest stories around yesterday...
My old mucker from my Telegraph days, James - "Quinny" - Quinn, had one of the best deal stories of the weekend after securing an on-the-record interview with Xavier Rolet, the boss of the London Stock Exchange...
Take a bow City AM for the best business April Fools story of 2016...
This story - http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-argusmedia-sale-idUKKCN0WX1WH - broke on Reuters this afternoon...
There were a flurry of stories this evening about US pharmaceutical company Medivation hiring JP Morgan to field takeover offers...
Friends, readers and contacts who know me well know that I called the London property market right in 2007 (the last top) but ever since then I have called it wrong - as in, I still don't own a London residential property/house/flat.
So, for good reasons I have deliberately avoided prognosticating on what might happen with the London property market...
[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].