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.
Friday, 5 May 2023, 8:40 am
Shares in Applus Services, the Spanish industrial testing company, are on a tear this morning thanks to an overnight scoop from Reuters hacks.
Andres Gonzalez and Amy-Jo Crowley of Reuters report that several private equuity firms, includng Apollo and Apax, are considering offers for Applus.
A consortium formed by I Squared and TDR has also signalled potential appetite for a takeover of the EURO 1 billion company, according to Reuters piece...
Read more...
Thursday, 4 May 2023, 11:44 am
The Wall Street Journal has just trotted out another story about Apollo purchasing US-listed Arconic Corporation.
According to the WSJ, Apollo is "nearing a deal" to buy industrial parts maker Arconic for around $30 a share or $3 billion.
This report comes after the newspaper revealed Apollo was sniffing around Arconic in February this year.
Shares in Arconic have leapt 30pc in the US pre-market.
Below is a link to the WSJ scoop:..
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Thursday, 4 May 2023, 10:59 am
Word reaches little old Betaville that Ardian is back sniffing around Heathrow, Britain's biggest airport.
People following the situation said Ardian, France's biggest private equity house led by French businesswoman Dominique Senequier, may talking to Spanish infrastructure and construction giant Ferrovial about buying its 25pc shareholding in Healthrow.
To be clear, this isn't a clean scoop from little old Betaville...
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Wednesday, 3 May 2023, 10:13 am
Farewell Neil "Neily" Craven, Business Editor of the Mail on Sunday.
After a twenty year career working at the highest level of financial journalism, including stints on Bloomberg and Retail Week, Neily is taking the PR shilling...
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Tuesday, 2 May 2023, 11:12 pm
This morning London-listed retailer Superdry confirmed Mark "the Kleinmanator" Kleinman's story about an equity fundraising.
Now, little old Betaville was chasing a rather similar story during the first Lockdown of 2020 while I was working on the business desk of the Mail on Sunday...
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Friday, 28 April 2023, 7:46 am
It's finally happened.
After years of speculation, Numis - The City of London's leading mid cap broker with around 170 corporate clients - has been gobbled up by a larger German rival.
Deutsche Bank is paying 350p a share, around £410 million, for Numis. That's a whopping 72pc premium. Below is the link to the press release:..
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Betaville IntelligenceThursday, 27 April 2023, 3:55 pm
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings, the London-listed luxury car maker, is rumoured to be in talks about a tie-up with a rival.
People following the situation have heard talk a rival car maker has been holding talks with Aston Martin about buying a shareholding of around 10pc in the London-listed business...
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Wednesday, 26 April 2023, 4:46 pm
A certain Brian George Kennedy has disclosed he now owns a 2.8pc shareholding in THG, the London-listed online retailer.
If this the same Brian Kennedy little old Betaville is thinking of then it's the Manchester-based tycoon who built a multi-million pound fortune from selling double glazing and who once owned Premier League winning Sale Sharks rugby club. Below is the link the statement announcement the stake:..
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Betaville IntelligenceMonday, 24 April 2023, 2:38 pm
Arch rivals at Bloomberg have finally decided to follow up little old Betaville's recent story on the activists trying to shake things up at Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, the US-listed biopharmaceutical company...
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Friday, 21 April 2023, 4:41 pm
Arch rivals at Bloomberg have published another takeover tale about Shockwave Medical, the US-listed medical technology company.
According to Bloomie, Boston Scientific is now weighing an acquisition of Shockwave Medical to boost its cardiovascular devices business. Below is the link:..
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Thursday, 20 April 2023, 9:59 pm
Bloomberg have just published a fresh news line on the Network International takeover situation.
The financial media behemoth reports Canadian investment firm Brookfield is weighing a counter offer for the London-listed Middle Eastern payment processor. Below is the link to the story:..
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Thursday, 20 April 2023, 7:38 pm
Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman's good form continues with another takeover scoopette.
According to Sky News City Editor Kleinmanator, private equity firm Cap10 - set up by former Apollo dealmaker Fabrice Nottin - has made an approach for Sureserve, a London-listed provider of smart metering services to social housing landlords, and an announcement could be made tomorrow morning...
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersThursday, 20 April 2023, 7:11 pm
Thursday, 20 April 2023, 7:36 am
Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman, City Editor of Sky News, is on a bit of a run of good form.
Earlier this week Kleimanator, a former boss and colleague during our time working on The Daily Telegraph, together smoked out Liontrust's interest in purchasing ailing Switzerland-listed asset manager GAM Holding. Below is a link to his scoop story and the confirmation:..
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Betaville IntelligenceTuesday, 18 April 2023, 6:18 pm
Apologies for the tardy victory lap Betavillers but I have been rather busy lately and hadn't noticed that the London-listed investment trust Caledonia Investments has now confirmed my original RARE Alert about it's interest in buying AIR-serve.
In case you don't recall, little old Betaville published a RARE alert last month about the takeover talks between Caledonia and AIR-serve's owners...
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Tuesday, 18 April 2023, 3:20 pm
There is an old saying on Fleet Street: three makes a journalistic trend.
So, no wonder little Betaville's old boss, Richard "Fletch" Fletcher, decided splash his business section in The Times for the second time in several days on the sudden mini M&A boom following takeover approaches fo London-listed THG, Network International and Dechra Pharmaceuticals...
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Tuesday, 18 April 2023, 8:20 am
New deals are being announced on a daily basis at the moment, with the pharmaceutical sector one of the most buoyant for dealmaking.
The latest deal is GlaxoSmithKline's takeover of Canadian biopharmaceutical company Bellus Health for $14.75 a share or around £1.6 billion.
That price is double Bellus Health's closing price of $7.26!
Below is a link to the press release if you want to read all the detail of the deal:..
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Monday, 17 April 2023, 10:39 am
So, it looks like there really is something to Patrick Tooher's THG story from this weekend's Mail on Sunday.
The company has just confirmed it has received a takeover approach from Apollo, which is also pursuing Wood Group. Below is a link to the confirmation:..
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Monday, 17 April 2023, 8:07 am
The British newspapers and American wire services were jammed packed with corking deal scoops this weekend.
The Mail on Sunday, for example, carried a line about a possible take private of embattled online retail group THG by founder and chief executive Matthew Moulding, the company's chief executive...
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Betaville IntelligenceFriday, 14 April 2023, 7:59 am
Dominic "Dom" Walsh, veteran leisure hack on The Times business section, appears to be hearing similar things to little old Betaville on the M&G takeover situation.
This morning Dom reports that Macquarie is rumoured to be talking to multiple insurance companies, such as Phoenix, about mounting a joint bid for M&G, the FTSE 100-listed asset manager.
Fancy that!
Below is a link to Dom's piece:..
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[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].