A cheeky website about deals, dealmakers and anything else I find interesting. Edited by Ben Harrington. If you have a tip or want to discuss a story please feel free to email Betaville at ben@betaville.co.uk. 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.
Several years ago The Sunday Times business section used to run little stories under the banner of "Pants on Fire" when the newspaper discovered it had been lied to by a company or its public relation advisers about a big scoop it had been trying to stand up for publication...
Menoshi Shina, the owner of Crew Clothing, is trying to back out of his £22 million takeover bid for Moss Bros, the menswear retailer. See the link below:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/moss-bros-group--mosb-/rns/offer-update/202004220700024199K/..
It appears Betaville isn't the only City watcher thinking the likes of International Consolidated Airlines Group is weighing an equity capital raising.
Word reaches me that Mark Manduca, a scribbler at Citigroup, has written a note to clients saying: "we cannot wholly rule out an equity capital raise at either IAG or easyJet."..
I see DFS Furniture has confirmed the piece in this weekend's Mail on Sunday by Neil "Neily" Craven and I about a potential equity capital fundraising. See the link below:
The cash calls are coming thick and fast. Indeed, if you read the Sunday papers' business sections today you may have noticed that Neil "Neily" Craven and I unveiled DFS Furniture's plan to tap equity investors for fresh funds.
Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman has today followed up our tale, tweeting the furniture retailer plans to ask investors for £50 million via a placing alongside raising some £70 million of fresh debt...
Aston Martin has been a dog of stock since its flotation eighteen months ago but that hasn't stopped billionaires quietly accumulating stakes in the business.
The latest to gobble up the shares in the luxry marque are Swiss-Italian billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli and Totto Wolff, the Austrian investor, former racing driver and 30pc shareholder in the Mercedes Formula One team. Below are the links:..
Betaville is in a bit of a grump.
Now, you might ask why given what's going on in the world. Well, yes, that's fair enough - there are more important things happening in the world than the daily cut and thrust of unveiling the secret deals going down in the City of London...
One of Betaville's favourite business commentators today follows the theme I laid out yesterday about Hiscox but probably in a more eloquent style than myself.
I am off course referring to Alistair "acerbic" Osborne, a former boss and colleague from my days at The Daily Telegraph City desk, and his piece in today's The Times about Hiscox's refusal to pay out claims to small and medium-sized businesses. I have pasted the link below:..
That didn't take long.
Rougly 30 minutes after Betaville published today's piece Hiscox put out a statement attempting to clarify the issue. Below is a link:
Shares of Lloyd's of London insurer Hiscox were down almost over 40pc in the last 48 hours amid concerns for the future of the company.
Now, there are several good reasons why the stock is so out of fashion. I will list them below:..
I see Hyve Group has this morning confirmed my report on this website and in the Mail on Sunday about a potential equity capital raising. Below is the link:
Hyve Group, the London-listed exhibitions and conferences company, is working on an equity capital raising.
People familiar with the matter said Hyve Group, which puts on the Pure fashion trade show at Kensington Olympia, is in relatively advanced discussions about a major equity fundraising deal with its advisers and brokers, which include Numis...
So, the cat is finally out of the bag at Circassia Pharmaceuticals: the company announced this morning that it would cancel the agreement with AstraZeneca for the US commercial rights to Tudorza and Duaklir in return for the FTSE 100 giant writing off a $150 million loan...
Small cap enthusiasts might want to keep an eye on Aim-listed Tiziana Life Sciences.
Word reaches Betaville that the company has developed a unique approach for the fight against Coronavirus.
In case you don't recall Tiziana's shares soared over 200pc last month during one trading session after it launched plans to fastrack a drug it thinks could treat some of the more severe symptons of Coronavirus...
Betaville spends a lot of time talking to top City of London dealmakers even when they are working from home. Most of them say that everything that was being looked at by potential acquirers prior to early March is either off or on hold. Some M&A bankers are looking at moving into restructuring...
Here is a bit of light reading to get you through these troubling times.
Do you remember Betaville's tale about Sir Chris Hohn's denial of the purchase of a north London mansion? I came across the story when I first set up Betaville in 2014. Below is the link to my original piece:..
So, it would appear Neil "Neily" Craven was bang on the money with yesterday's story about WH Smith weighing an equity capital raising. In case you don't recall, below is a link to Neil's piece:
Hat tip to Oliver Shah, Sabah Meddings, Gabriel Pogrund and Caroline Wheeler at The Sunday Times for digging out today's main book scoop about how the Abu Dhabi-owned ExCel centre was trying to charge the NHS between £2 million and £3 million in rent to the NHS for the new Nightingale hospital. Below is the link:..
A hearty congratulations goes out to former colleague Philip Aldrick, economics editor at The Times. Today he won the the Business and Finance Journalist of the Year award from the Society of Editors.
I have worked across the business desks of 'Fleet Street' for a quite a while and I couldn't think of a more diligent but understated journalist as Phil Aldrick, who I used to work alongside at The Daily Telegraph several years ago...
I see The Times business section today ran a piece on the front page of its business section about Nestle buying Lily's Kitcken, the upmarket pet food brand.
Now that won't come as much of surprise to regular followers of my work as I first broke the news of Lily's Kitchen hiring advisers late last year in the Mail on Sunday's business section. See below:..
[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].