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.
I see my former colleague Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman of Sky News has followed up little old Betaville's UNCOOKED alert about the takeover rumours surrounding Serco...
Bears are coming out of the woods despite the ongoing equity market rally.
And it's another Sweden-listed company that is on the receiving end of a mauling from Viceroy Reseach, the activist short seller led by Fraser Perring.
As usual, the note from Viceroy about Svenska Cellulosa AB SCA, a timber, pulp and paper manufacturer, is a little bit too fruity to be aired on these pixels so I have pasted the link below...
Amy-Jo Crowley's overnight scoop about KPS Capital's unrequited interest in Elementis has riled up one of the London-listed chemical company's largest shareholders somewhat.
Steve Raineri and Chris Meeker, portfolio managers at Franklin Mutual Advisers, have been pushing for the board of Elementis to carry out a strategic review since late last year...
So there is another suitor pursuing London-listed chemicals company Elementis.
According to a scoop from Amy-Jo Crowley of Reuters, New York-based buy out firm KPS Capital recently explored a takeover bid for Elementis though it has since "paused" its work on the deal. Below is a link to Amy-Jo's top tale:..
There aren't too many fully fledged private equity auction processes kicking off at the moment due to the potential "macroeconomic nasties" lurking around the corner.
But little old Betaville has been doing some digging around and encountered one potential private equity sale process that may be about to start over the next few weeks...
eEnergy, the London-listed listed net zero digital services provider, this morning announced it has sold its energy management division for £29.1 million, thereby confirming one aspect of little old Betaville's UNCOOKED alert from December 2023.
I have pasted the link below to this morning's announcement and the link to December's UNCOOKED Alert:..
I see France-listed gaming operator La Francaise des Jeux has finally confirmed little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert from last year about its interest in purchasing Nordic gaming group Kindred.
In case you don't recall, little old Betaville revealed back in August La Francaise des Jeux was plotting a takeover bid for Kindred. Below is the link to that piece:..
Consolidation among London-listed REITs continues.
This morning Custodian Property Income REIT is acquiring ABRDN Property Income Trust for £237 million with its own stock, which is a premium of around 30pc.
It looks like Custodian Property Income REIT's shareholders will end up with the lion's share of the equity in the new company, so I'm not sure this really is a "merger" as billed in the announcement...
The first fully fledged new takeover deal of a sizeable UK-listed company of 2024 has just been announced this morning.
France-based Ceva Logistics has had a 450p a share - or around £765 million - takeover offer for haulage and logistics group Wincanton recommended by the the London-listed company's board...
Little old Betaville isn't a great fan of headlines with a question mark in them.
But sometimes they serve a purpose, such as in this case about a mysterious stakebuilding taking place in London-listed housebuilder Crest Nicholson.
A loyal reader got in touch to point out that Jersey-based vehicle called Shanlis Investment Unlimited has quietly accumulated a 6pc shareholding in Crest Nicholson...
Frasers Group - the retailer controlled by the British billionaire Mike Ashley - is back at it.
Yesterday, it emerged that Frasers Group had increased its stake again Asos, the London-listed online retailer, after reducing its shareholding last October.
Frasers Group said it now owns 24.1pc of Asos. Below is the link to the announcement:..
Little old Betaville has been ruminating on the Genteel Hustler's excellent scoop in yeseterday's The Sunday Times about Redbird IMI hiring Robey Warshaw to get its takeover of The Daily Telegraph over the line with the British regulators. Below is a link to Genteel's (also known as the William Turvill) scoop in case you missed it:..
The Genteel Hustler has been hustling hard.
Genteel - also known as William Turvill, a reporter on The Sunday Times business section - has just landed a cracking story about how Redbird IMI, the investment vehicle backed by the United Arab Emirates, has recruited advisory the advisory firm that counts George Osborne as one of its partners to try to get its takeover of The Daily Telegraph, littld old Betaville's former employer, over the line...
Hat tip to Amy-Jo Crowley of Reuters for digging out a new line on the Believe takeover tale that little old Betaville discovered last month.
Loyal readers might recall that late last year little old Betaville published an UNCOOKED Alert about the France-listed music services company. Below is the link:
https://www.betaville.co.uk/betaville-intelligence/u2bcsp4o/..
Deal hacks at the Wall Street Journal are on a serious hot streak.
Last night Juniper Networks and Hewlett Packard Enterprise confirmed the WSJ's scoop from earlier in the week about a takeover of the US-listed networking company for $40 in cash or around $14 billion by the latter. Below is the link to the announcement:..
[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].