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.
And one I forgot to add to today's Merger Monday list: a combination of rival Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse.
That's according to 'Inside Paradeplatz', a Swiss website I have never heard of...
Merger Mondays came thick and fast during economic booms but over the last six months they have been rather lacking for obvious reasons.
This morning, though, there are deals - or potential deals - aplenty. They include:
1. SoftBank's sale of Arm to Nvidia for $40 (£30) billion.
2. A potential 'take private' of SoftBank by its management team, as reported by the FT yesterday. Below is the link:..
Clipper Logistics, one of the UK's biggest specialist e-commerce fulfilment groups, has come into focus amid takeover talk.
People following the situation have heard rumours the company, which works for retailers such as Asos, may once again be a "bid target".
However, the identity of the potential acquirer isn't clear, said people following the situation...
Many today's business section front pages lead with the (potential) collapse of LVMH's $16 billion bid for upmarket jeweller Tiffany.
But back in mid March the highly respected former WSJ hack and Fox Business reporter Charlie Gasparino flagged that some investors were positioning themselves for the possibility of the deal falling over or at the very least price renegotiation by wily Bernie Arnault. Click on the link below to remind yourself of that piece:..
It would appear BE Group hasn't given up on Ageas after all, according to De Tijd.
Betaville's Flemish isn't too great but a translated version of the Belgian newspaper's report suggests a new bid by BE Group would "not to be excluded" (whatever that means).
The report also claims BE Group is still interested in buying a majority stake in the insurer and that it is not interested in acquiring parts of Ageas with a view to divesting them...
Tucked away on page 2 of The Times business section is a great little jackanory that caught Betaville's eye.
Ben Martin, a former colleague from our time on The Daily Telegraph business section, reveals Bruce Flatt, the boss of Brookfield, has flown to London to meet up with his European head of private equity, Ralf Rank. Below is a link to Ben Martin's scoopette:..
There was acres of coverage of Extinction Rebellion's blockade of the British national newspapers' printing presses over the last 48 hours but for some reason Sir Chris Hohn hardly gets a mention...
Chuckles all round at Betaville towers as senior hacks at the Wall Street Journal backslap themselves for "breaking" the story about Global Insfrastructure Partners and Blackstone's attempt to buy US-listed railroad operator Kansas City Southern for over $20 billion...
The Daily Mail's business section has splashed on a story about CVC Capital Partners weighing a £500 million plus bid for beleguered government outsourcer Capita. Below is the link:
Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Holding's misses out on promotion to the blue chip index for the second time in three months thanks to some weird re-calculating by FTSE Russell.
Below is the statement from FTSE Russell, which appears some to be some tacit confirmation of a screw up by the index compiler.
Pershing Square Holdings (UK)
September Review - FTSE UK Index Series
02 September 2020..
There seems to be an awful lot of excitement in the mainstream business press about which companies are going to be promoted to, and demoted from, the FTSE 100 index.
I suppose there are a dearth of corporate stories around given it's the back end of a summer that has also had to contend with a pandemic. So, the latest quarterly reshuffle will help fill some space (and pixels)...
Voila: Veolia Environnement has launched what appears to be a quasi hostile EURO 10 billion bid for Suez, thereby confirming one aspect of little old Betaville's recent series of Intelligence articles.
Click on the link below to see the piece from ten days ago raising the prospect of a takeover bid for Suez, the French water and waste company...
Farewell then Peter Evans.
Sadly the excellent Enterprise Editor of The Sunday Times is heading off to the calmer climate in the West Country but not before pointing out that Matthew Moulding of the soon-to-be-listed the Hut Group point blank denied he had any plans to float his company when he interviewed him last year. Below is a link to Peter's excellent interview with Mr Moulding:..
Fresh details have emerged about the backers of Run Liang Tai Management, the secretive Chinese investor that has become Telit Communications largest shareholder.
Sunsea Telecommunications, a Shenzhen-listed 'internet of things' provider in which Run Liang is a large shareholder, is said to have disclosed the Chinese group's financial and strategic backers for the first time.
The investors in Run Liang are listed below:
1. Shanghai Xiyuxiang Investment Company..
Hat tip to Oliver "Shahsy" Shah.
Ten days ago the intrepid hack and business editor of The Sunday Times splashed the section he edits with a scoop about Mike Ashley move's to buy Dave Whelan's Sports for more than £30 million. Below is the link:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mike-ashley-bids-for-dave-whelans-bust-dw-sports-cm8mplt5k..
Mark, the "Kleinmanator", Kleinman of Sky News has gone for a Saturday afternoon wind up with a story about BT Group hiring Goldman Sachs and, maybe, Robey Warshaw to work on a defence ahead of a £15 billion takeover approach. Below is the link:
https://news.sky.com/story/bt-group-board-on-alert-for-15bn-takeover-approaches-12054366..
Suez, the France-listed water and waste group, has come under the spotlight amid a fresh round of takeover speculation.
People following the situation have heard rumours Suez is "back in play".
However, it's not clear which company is circling Suez, said people following the situation.
Suez, though, has repeatedly been at the centre of takeover rumours over the last three years as its largest shareholder, Engie, has weighed buying the company outright...
[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].