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.
Thursday, 3 December 2020, 3:45 pm
Dialog Semiconductor, the Frankfurt-listed chip designer, is still rumoured to be "in play" despite the announcement of another deal in the industry earlier this week.
On Monday, it emerged Munich-based Siltronic, a Germany-listed silicon wafer designer, had received a EURO 3.75 billion offer from Taiwan's Global Wafers, leading to speculation the rumours around Dialog Semiconductor may have been confused...
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Wednesday, 2 December 2020, 7:56 pm
FTSE Russell has finally confirmed that Bill "Baby Face" Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings will replace Homeserve in the London's blue chip index.
Admittedly this was foreshadowed in some of today's British newspaper market reports...
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Tuesday, 1 December 2020, 9:34 pm
It really is dealmania out there: Salesforce has just agreed to buy Slack for $27.7 billion.
Below is the link to a report about the announcement:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/technology/salesforce-slack-deal.html
So that's two blockbuster megadeals (if you include S&P's $44 billion purchase of IHS Markit) this week and it's only Tuesday.....
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Betaville IntelligenceTuesday, 1 December 2020, 3:57 pm
STMicroelectronics NV, the Swiss domiciled semiconductor maker, is in focus amid vague speculation about the possibility of the company being involved in a major corporate transaction.
Some people following the situation have heard rumours STMicroelectronics might be a takeover target.
However, it's not clear which company might be interested in combining with STMicroelectronics, said people following the situation...
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Monday, 30 November 2020, 8:31 am
Hacks over at the venerable Wall Street Jounal appear to have landed the biggest deal scoop of the year by revealing S&P Global is in talks to buy IHS Markit for $44 billion.
Below is the link to Cara Lombardo and Liz Hoffman:..
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Sunday, 29 November 2020, 8:08 pm
Harriet Dennys, a colleague two times over, had a decent line in this weekend's Mail on Sunday that would appear to speak to the theme aired on Betaville recently that some the big London-listed companies that raised money over the summer will once again be tapping up shareholders for fresh funds.
Below is a link to Harriet's piece, which would seem to suggest that easyJet might look to raise cash by issuing new shares or a convertible bond...
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Betaville IntelligenceFriday, 27 November 2020, 12:21 pm
Dialog Semiconductor, the Frankfurt-listed chip designer, is at the centre of takeover speculation.
People following the situation have heard rumours Dialog Semiconductor may have attracted a suitor and could have already received an approach.
However, the identity of the suitor is unknown, said people following the situation.
In 2014 Dialog Semiconductor held merger talks with AMS, an Austrian chip designer...
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Thursday, 26 November 2020, 1:37 pm
Will Lindy Cameron the new chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre take an interest in the goings on at key supplier Post Quantum?
Over the summer Post Quantum hit the headlines whenit beat technology giants IBM and Microsoft to the finals of a global competition to find an to the answer to of quantum computing, a type of uber cyber security. Click on the link below to read The Times piece in case you don't recall:..
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Wednesday, 25 November 2020, 8:53 pm
The idea of Sir Martin heading stateside for his next deal might have been a curve ball.
In case you don't recall the excellent Alex Lawson noted in the Mail on Sunday's Stockwatch column a few weeks ago that adman dealmaker was over in the US eyeing up deals ahead of Jo Biden becoming president. Below is a link to the Sunday round up piece I wrote on the topic a few weeks ago:..
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Wednesday, 25 November 2020, 8:49 pm
You don't see this very often in the world of mergers and acquisitions: somebody from a trade union outing a deal ON THE RECORD to the press.
Well, that just happened over the Channel in France after Agence France Presse quoted Sebastian Crozier, president of the CFE-CGC Orange organisation as saying "the Atos buyout proposal will be supported by the employee directors and employee shareholders at the next Orange Board of Directors on December 2"...
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Betaville IntelligenceTuesday, 24 November 2020, 8:44 pm
Acadia Healthcare, the US-listed healthcare company has attracted interest in its UK-based the Priory division from Median, the largest operator of rehabilitation clinics in Germany.
People following the situation said they have heard Median, which is backed by Dutch private equity company Waterland, is seriously studying an acquisition of the Priory...
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Tuesday, 24 November 2020, 8:11 pm
Hat tip to Michael O'Dwyer of The Daily Telegraph, who appears to have dug out a rather interesting tale about a foreign exchange broker. Below is the link:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/11/23/city-broker-equiti-capital-sued-alleged-links-ponzi-style-fraud/..
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersTuesday, 24 November 2020, 1:35 pm
Tuesday, 24 November 2020, 1:02 pm
Here we go again: Bill "baby-face" Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings is being tipped by brokers as the likely candidate to be promoted to the blue-chip index at the reshuffle next week.
Remember, though, we have been here before. Last quarter dealers predicted Pershing Square Holdings was heading into the FTSE 100 only to miss out at the last minute thanks to some weird re-calculating by FTSE Russell...
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Friday, 20 November 2020, 9:04 pm
Hat tip to Alex Ralph. The hard working hack on The Times busness section dug up a rather good line in today's newspaper about how Philip Jansen, BT Group's newish chief executive, is now open to selling a stake in Openreach (whose valuation is £20 billion, by the way). Below is a link to Alex Ralph's story:..
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersFriday, 20 November 2020, 7:17 pm
Betaville IntelligenceFriday, 20 November 2020, 6:03 pm
Voila: U-blox and Telit Communications have confirmed Betaville's RARE ALERT from yesterday afternoon.
Below are links to their respective confirmations:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/telit-communications--tcm-/rns/statement-re-possible-offer/202011200700039477F/..
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersThursday, 19 November 2020, 7:29 pm
Betaville IntelligenceThursday, 19 November 2020, 2:30 pm
U-blox Holding AG, the Switzerland-listed wireless semiconductor company, is circling Telit Communications with a view to merging with the Aim-listed 'internet of things' designer.
People following the situation have heard rumours U-blox is interested in all-share merger with Telit and may have already approached the Aim-listed company with a proposal about a combination of the two businesses...
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Betaville IntelligenceThursday, 19 November 2020, 8:08 am
Last night Ubisoft Entertainment issued a EURO 600 million bond.
Why?
Well, it's not entirely clear but one of Betaville's favourite snouts pointed out that in the bond documentation that the French gaming giant said "the net proceeds of the bond will be used for general corporate purposes as well as potential future acquisitions"...
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[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].