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.
Capital & Counties, the London-listed property company, is on the verge of announcing a sale of its Earls Court site to Delancey for £370 million but has received an eleventh hour £100 million higher offer from a mystery consortium backed by the Hong Kong-based Kwok family...
So, it would appear Ben Gartside of Yahoo Finance was barking up the right tree when he dug out a rather good scoop in July about Labour looking to nationalise BT Group.
Below is the link to his great story:
https://www.betaville.co.uk/news/labour-eye-bt-group-nationalisation-according-to-y/..
Capital & Counties, the London-listed property company, is said to be close to striking a deal to sell some or all of the business.
People following the situation said an anouncement about a transaction could be made in the next few days although it isn't clear whether the deal is just for company's troubled Earls Court site in London or the whole company, which includes Covent Garden...
It's been a busy few days at Betaville towers, so I completely missed the fact that Alba Mineral Resources confirmed last week's RARE Alert about a potential placing just a few hours after this website published the piece.
Below is a link to the confirmation from Alba Mineral Resources:..
It's pretty quiet in UK private equity land at the moment. No surprises there given the fact there is a general election coming up in a month in what is likely to be one of the most unpredictable votes of all time despite what the polls say. Remember, the polls got it completely wrong in 2015.
So, several London-based buy-out heads have told Betaville they are sitting on there on hands at the moment, waiting to see what the outcome of the election is...
Sifting through content on Bloomberg can be a depressing for Betaville. That's because I often encounter a scoop I missed, yet another piece about London house prices or a review of an expensive restaurant I can't afford...
The frothiness continues unabated with KKR coming forward to submit a formal takover proposal for Walgreens Boots Alliance. Click on the link to the Financial Times piece below for the latest on the deal:
https://www.ft.com/content/9824af60-049d-11ea-a984-fbbacad9e7dd
Now Betaville was a bit sceptical that a $70 billion leveraged buy-out of Walgreens Boots Alliance would actually happen...
I see Hurricane Energy has made a statement following this morning's UNCOOKED Alert about the large find at the company's Warwick West in the North Sea. Below is the link:
Hurricane Energy, the London-listed oil explorer, is said to have struck a huge amount of oil at its Warwick West well in the North Sea.
People following the situation said this was a "large" discovery following September's announcement about the spudding of Wawick West...
A good old fashioned dogfight is brewing in the skies above London’s junior stockmarket.
The legal battle between Gama Aviation - an AIM-listed private jet supplier to celebs, such as Lewis Hamilton before he ditched the mode of transport - and one of its customers, millionaire Andre Serruys, centres on allegations of false invoicing, dodgy deals for private jet parts and a failure to maintain Serruys’ plane, a Challenger 601 private jet...
Alba Mineral Resources, the Aim-listed mineral exploration and development company, is said be working on an equity placing.
People familiar with the situation said advisers from First Equity are working on the fundraising for Alba Mineral Resources, which has a stake in the so-called "Gatwick Gusher", the oil exploration project just a few miles away from the airport...
It's getting frothy out there.
First off: it emerges Stefano Pessina is exploring a $70 billion plus leveaged buy-out of Walgreens Boots Alliance. The last time Italian took a company private was just before the credit crunch in 2007 when he acquired Alliance Boots for £11 billion with the backing of KKR, Wall Street's most powerful private equity firm...
So, it would appear Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund isn't involved in Nick Candy's £2.3 billion takeover bid for Capital & Counties after all.
According to some sources familiar with the matter, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United Kingdom has just written to the residents of Gibbs Green and West Kensington to let them know that "I have been informed there is no involvment from the Saudi Public Investment Fund"...
Is Nick Candy planning to turn the former exhibition centre at Earls Court into a new stadium for Chelsea Football Club?
The reason I posit this question is because reliable sources have been in touch with Betaville claiming the well-known developer was looking at such a plan several years ago when he first started examining a takeover bid of Capital & Counties...
Hat tip to Simon English of the Evening Standard's City section.
English, one of Betaville's favourite business writers, nosed off the market report with a cracking jackanory about Lloyds Bank looking at beleguered Metro Bank and the shares leapt almost 15pc in response. Below is a link to Simon's market report:..
[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].