Betaville

An old bear re-emerges from the woods... - Part 2

Drum roll...

It would appear Gotham City's return to the European short selling begins with: SES-imagotag, a French company that sells electronic labels and retail management systems.

The shares have surged almost 125pc over the last year.

Anyway, for legal reasons little old Betaville can't reproduce Gotham City's allegations but I have pasted the link below if you are interested in reading what the activist short seller has got to say about the business:..

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Ocado may be a takeover target for Amazon, reports The Times - Part 2

Ocado shares are currently up around 43pc at pixel time.

There has been no confirmation, yet, of Dom Walsh's takeover story in today's The Times so little old Betaville assumes there could be a bit of short squeeze going on here, especially as Ocado is one of the most shorted stocks in the London market.

According to data provider Shortracker.co.uk, around 6.1pc of Ocado's stock is on loan to short sellers. Below is a link to Shortracker.co.uk:..

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An old bear re-emerges from the woods...

Remember Gotham City?

No, little old Betaville isn't referring to the fictional city from the Batman comic books and films.

This Gotham City is the short seller that almost a decade ago had some success identifying corporate malfeasance-related short investment ideas, such as Gowex, the Spain-listed WiFi provider that turned out to be a fraud...

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Ocado may be a takeover target for Amazon, reports The Times

Dom Walsh, veteran retail hack over on the The Times business section, has dug up an interesting takeover tale about another London-listed online retailer.

According to Dom's piece, Ocado - whose shares have collapsed almost 50pc over the last year - might be of interest to an American suitor, possibly even Amazon.

Now, that's not the first time such a theory has been aired but you never know perhaps 2023 will be the year it actually happens.....

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Adnoc said to make takeover approach for Covestro, reveals Bloomberg

There is some big merger & acquisition news breaking across in the (European) continent right now.

Adnoc, the Abu Dhabi-backed energy company, has made a takeover approach for German chemicals giant Covestro, according to Bloomberg.

I would provide the link but Bloomberg hasn't made it available, yet...

UPDATE: Below is a link to the Bloomberg piece that has been picked up by the Financial Post:..

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Abu Dhabi held takeover talks with Lazard, reveals the Financial Times

Earlier this year it was Standard Chartered but now Abu Dhabi has set it sights on corporate finance firm Lazard.

Well, that's according to a scoop in the venerable Financial Times...

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Lookers set for £400 million takeover by Canada's Alpha Auto, reports Sky News

Mark "The Kleinmnator" Kleinman of Sky News has popped up this evening with a decent scoop.

According to Kleiny, a Canadian company called Alpha Auto Group is on the verge of purchasing London-listed car dealer Lookers

Alpha Auto Group is said to be willing to pay around 120p a share for Lookers. The way the story is written suggests this deal could be announced tomorow morning as a recommended offer.

Below is a link to the Kleinmanator's story:..

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ITV said to £1 billion explore takeover of All3Media, reveals Reuters

Hat tip to Amy-Jo Crowley of Reuters.

The former Mail on Sunday business hack landed a great story last night about ITV weighing a £1 billion offer for rival production house All3Media. Below is a link to Amy-Jo's scoop:..

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Bain Capital approaches SoftwareOne Holding AG with $3.2 billion takeover offer

Debt is becoming more expensive but private equity clearly has given up on big take privates.

The latest attempt in Europe comes from Bain Capital, which has just had a $3.2 takeover indicative bid for SoftwareOne rejected by the company's board.

Bain's SWF 18.50 offer for the Switzerland-listed cloud business is pitched at a 22pc premium to yesterday's close. Below is a link to the confirmation of the bid:..

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Deals, Deals, Deals ... in a bear market - Part 48

More deals were announced in the last twenty four hours, including one from a FTSE 100-listed company.

Entain, the blue chip sports betting group that owns Ladbrokes and Coral, last night announced it had struck a deal to purchase Polish rival STS Holdings and this morning launched a placing to raise £600 million to fund the £750 million purchase. Below is a link to the placing announcement:..

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Deals, Deals, Deals ... in a bear market - Part 47

There has been plenty of whining in the British press about the lack of takeover deals since the beginning of the year.

But over on the other side of Atlantic the multi-billion dollar deals keep on getting announced.

US-listed Bunge, for example, just announced the takeover of rival grain trader Viterra, in which FTSE 100-listed Glencore has a large stake, as part of $8.2 billion cash and stock deal. Below is the link:..

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