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.
You don't very often see senior executives in private equity firms and stuffy corporates talk on the record much about carrying out potential deals with rivals before the transaction is announced very often...
Bestway isn't hanging around.
J Sainsbury has just revealed the wholesale group has increased its stake in the supermarket giant to just under 4.5pc.
The move comes after Bestway announced a 3.45pc shareholding in Sainsbury's last week and reports suggested the privately-owned group's top executives have been weighing a combination with the FTSE 100 retailer.
Below is a link to this morning's announcement:..
John Goold, a charasmatic veteran City of London stockbroker, is leading an activist campaign at THG, the London-listed online retailer also known as The Hut Group.
Kelso, the vehicle being led by Goold, has just announced it owns 0.4pc of THG or around 5 million shares. Below is the Kelso MO:..
I see arch rivals at Bloomberg have published another follow to little old Betaville's UNCOOKED alert about Brazilian-listed Natura & Co from late November last year.
Bloomie hacks are report that LVMH, the luxury goods giant controlled by billionaire Bernard Arnault, and France-listed beauty group L'Oreal are also both participating in the Aesop sale process. Below is a link to the Bloomie "scoop":..
BP's low valuation makes it a takeover target.
Well, that's according to fund manager M&G - which is a shareholder in BP - via the front page of The Sunday Times business section...
Hat tip to Oliver Gill and Chris Price, business hacks at The Daily Telegraph, little old Betaville's former employer.
Gill and Price have actually done some hard work and dug out some cracking on the record quotes from old Colin Graves, the straight-talking founder of budget convenence store company Costcutter, about Bestway's REAL intenstions for J Sainsbury...
So, Viceroy's latest target was Medical Properties Trust, the US-listed healthcare property company. Below is the link to the short seller's note:
https://viceroyresearch.org/2023/01/26/medical-properties-distrust/..
Wholesaler Bestway has this morning announced it has purchased a 3.45pc stake in J Sainsbury.
Bestway is led by Sir Anwar Pervez, a former bus conductor and driver. He is now a billionaire, worth around £3.1 billion, according to The Sunday Times rich list...
First Hindenburg; now Viceroy.
Yesterday, renonwed short selling outfit Hindenburg Research released some fairly punchy allegations about billionaire Gautam Adani and the company he controls - India-listed Adani Group, the mining to energy conglomerate. Adani Group's shares subsequently collapsed with the company's market value losing around $10 billion. Below is a link to a more detailed report from The Guardian containing the allegations:..
It's been a while since Apollo has been touted to as a potential acquirer in a large leveraged buy-out but hacks at the venerable Financial Times have done well to discover the firm is looking at purchasing Millicom, the Latin American telecoms operator.
According to the FT, Apollo has teamed up with Marcelo Claure, the former SoftBank executive, to explore a bid for the company that could value it around $10 billion, including debt...
So, Everton Football Club isn't "for sale". Well, that is what sports hacks at The Times are reporting this morning.
According to the newspaper Farhard Moshiri, the Iranian businessman and large shareholder in Everton, was denying the possibility of a sale last night after The Guardian published its scoop. Below is a link to piece in today's The Times:..
Late last year little old Betaville was ruminating on the fact that two top flight Premier League football clubs - Liverpool and Manchester United - were both officially put on the market at the time...
It's not often you see a Sunday takeover scoop in the French press so hat tip to the Journal du Dimanche for coming up with a decent line about the never ending Atos takeover situation.
According to the Journal du Dimanche, Astek has expressed an interest in purchasing the Evidian cyber security and big data unit, which is soon to be spun off by Atos with its own listing...
Perhaps OKDiario's scoop about a EURO 35 billion takeover of Cellnex was a load of codswallop after all!
According to JP Morgan scribbler Akhil Dattani, Cellnex has denied it has been approached by American Tower or its advisers.
Indeed, it would appear Dattani has done some actual journalism as tucked away within the analyst's latest note there is a line that says: "Cellnex refutes having been approached by AMT or a mandated bank"...
Have you ever heard of OKDiario?
Well, little old Betaville had never heard of the tiltle until it revealed today that American Tower Corporation, the US-listed telecoms infrastructure giant, and Canada's infrastructure investor Brookfield had appointed Morgan Stanley to examine a multi-billion EURO takeover bid for Cellnex, the Spanish telecoms infrastructure owner...
I see arch rivals at Bloomberg have finally decided to follow up little old Betaville's Part 9 Uncooked Alert about the Belgian insurer that this website published last month.
Hacks at Bloomie report that BE Group, a vehicle backed some ex Lazard, UBS and Credit Suisse bankers, has made a fresh approach for Ageas and is trying to get the financing together for a deal. Below is a link to the Bloomie tale:..
[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].