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 [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.
Direct Line's shares are up 10pc at pixel time.
To be clear I have no idea why and this website has NOT published an intelligence alert on the company today.
However, one assumes if there is anything going on from an M&A perspective then some sort of announcement is imminent.
One to keep an eye on.....
I see Les Echos, the respected French newspaper, has decided to follow up little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert from earlier in the week and is now reporting La Banque Poste, the largest shareholder in CNP Assurances, is looking to take the insurer private. Below is the link: ..
Now Thoma Bravo is said to be weighing an offer for Temenos, according to Bloomberg.
The news agency claims Thoma Bravo, led by Puerto Rican businessman Orlando Bravo, is working with advisers on a potential offer.
It does make you wonder: who else is waiting in the wings.....
America's biggest financial rag has just broken a big activism story about Dan Loeb's Third Point buying a stake in Shell. Below is a link to the scoop:
Betaville is in a bit of a grump.
Why, you might be asking yourself. Well, I was chasing a bid tale about Temenos all day today and then suddenly arch rivals at Bloomberg popped up with the scoop about Nordic private equity firm EQT considering a takeover bid for the Swiss banking software giant...
Well, Bloomberg's story about PayPal's potential $40 billion plus takeover deal of social media site Pinterest appears to have ended as quickly as it started.
Last night PayPal issued a statement, saying: "in response to market rumors regarding a potential acquisition of Pinterest by PayPal, PayPal stated that it is not pursuing an acquisition of Pinterest at this time."..
Oliver Gill, the hotshot business hack on The Sunday Telegraph, dug out an interesting line on the weekend about Go-Ahead, the beleguered train operator.
Gill's piece claims Go-Ahead might become a takeover target for FirstGroup after its shares collapsed following news it had hidden £25 million of excess profits from the Treasury. Below is a link to Gill's piece:..
ICA Gruppen AB is at the centre of speculation the company is set to be involved in a major corporate transaction, such as a merger or takeover of all or some of the Swedish food and health retailing conglomerate.
People following the situation have heard talk ICA Gruppen has received an approach from a foreign buyer...
CNP Assurances SA, the France-listed insurer, has come under the spotlight amid takeover speculation.
People following the situation have heard the company may soon be on the receiving end of a takeover approach.
Some people following the situation also said the bidder could come from CNP Assurances's current shareholder base...
Hat tip to my old Mail on Sunday mucker Jamie, "Nimmers", Nimmo for landing a great tale about ITV weighing a takeover bid of Channel 4.
Jamie's scoop also has a line about how Miroma Venture - which is chaired by Lord Grade, the former boss of the BBC and chairman of ITV, and run by entrepreneur Marc Boyan - is also looking at Channel 4. Below is a link to the tale:..
Rivals at Bloomberg appear at the moment to be super keen on following up little old Betaville's alerts.
Earlier this week the financial media behemoth followed Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert on Falck Renewables, the Italy-listed renewable energy group, and just now Bloomie followed up last week's UNCOOKED Alert on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, the US-listed rare disease developer. Below is the link to a Seeking Alpha summary:..
It would appear yesterday's business media gossip aired on these pixels was bang on the money.
Today Times Radio has issued a press release confirming O'Connell's appointment from the BBC. Below is the link:
https://radiotoday.co.uk/2021/10/dominic-oconnell-joins-times-radio-as-business-correspondent/..
So farewell Dominic O'Connell, the BBC Radio 4 buiness editor, who today leaves the broadcasting giant.
Little old Betaville had the pleasure of working with O'Connell in his latter years as business editor of The Sunday Times.
It may, though, not be too long before the quick-witted Kiwi is heard on our airwaves again. The talk is O'Connell is heading to the new (ish) The Times radio station, presumably to present on, er, business matters.....
Bloomie hacks have just landed one of the biggest US deal scoops of the year.
According to the news agency, PayPal has approached Pinterest about buying the social media group for around $70 a share. Below is the link to the Bloomberg scoop:..
And there you have it: the Infrastructure Investment Fund (IIF) has agreed a deal to buy Falck Renewables for € 8.81 per share from the Falck family.
For those of you unfamiliar with the IIF it is managed by JP Morgan Investment Management. Below is a link to this morning's announcement:..
Another day, another follow up for little old Betaville.
This time Bloomberg has run a story about a possible sale of Falck Renewables that is eerily similar to little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert from a couple of weeks ago. Below is the link to the Bloomie tale and little old Betaville's orginal scoop...
Plenty of Fleet Street hacks have jumped on the bear story surrounding The Hut Group, the London-listed e-commerce company also known as THG, in the last few days.
Indeed, the company's problems, including an over 40pc share price collapse over a fortnight, are managing to fill whole front pages and commentary columns this week...
[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].