Betaville

Deals, deals, deals...in a bear market - Part 6

Another day, another US shale deal.

This time round the venerable Wall Street Journal has landed a scoop about Pioneer Natural Resources Company bid for Parsley Energy Inc in what would be a $4.1 billion takeover. Below is a link to the WSJ tale:..

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Deals, deals, deals...in a bear market - Part 5

It's pretty gloomy out there given the current state of affairs but hasn't put a dampener on dealmaking.

Today in the US ConocoPhillips announced a $9.7 billion for shale explorer and producer Concho Resources while chip maker Intel Corporation is in talks to sell its memory-chip unit to South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc. for roughly $10 billion. That's two $10 billion deals in a day...

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Cash calls - who is next? - Part 17

Some funds, such as Marshall Wace, can reportedly see "value" in beaten up stocks such as International Consolidated Airlines Group but there other serious investors who think some of the companies that have carried big equity raises over the last few months could tap the markets again for fresh funds in 2021...

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Ferguson said to have appointed NM Rothschild to find a buyer for £500 million Wolseley UK - sources

It sounds like blue-chip builders' merchant Ferguson really wants to get rid of Wolseley, one of Britain's largest suppliers to builders, plumbers and tradesmen.

According to Betaville's moles in the City of London, Ferguson has asked advisers from NM Rothschild to garner interest from buyers, such as private equity firms, for Wolseley UK...

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Brevan Howard said to have bought a 25pc stake in Eric Peters's One River Asset Management

The story is as the headline suggests - Brevan Howard has bought a 25pc shareholding in Conneticut-based One River Asset Management.

Indeed, the deal could be announced imminently, said one of Betaville's hedgie moles.

Betaville isn't sure how much Brevan Howard, led by wily Alan Howard, is paying for its stake but presumably it's in the multi-millions...

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Sunday review: BT Group and, er, that's it...

There weren't too many public company deal stories that caught Betaville's eye this weekend but The Sunday Times interview chief executive stood out like a sore thumb.

Philip Jansen, the new (ish) boss of BT Group, offered himself up to Oliver "Shahsy" Shah and John "The Ridge" Collingridge, senior business hacks at The Sunday Times for a grilling. Below is the link if you didn't read it:..

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Formula One champion Vettel said to eye stake in Aston Martin, reports suggest - Part 2

So, it would appear Sebastian Vettel has actually bought a stake in Aston Martin, according to the Formula One champion himself.

Speaking at a drivers' press conference ahead of the Eifel Grand Prix on the 11th of October Vettel said:

"If you are asking me if I have shares in the company, I have. How much? I think it’s a secondary thing and I won’t talk about."

Below is a link to a report from the press conference:..

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That Toscafund bid for Talk Talk...

Betaville is in a grump. And it's not because I just discovered all my expensive Roderick & Charles suits are riddled with holes thanks to an infestation of moths during lockdown.

The main reason I'm so annoyed is because I got wind something was afoot with Talk Talk yesterday afternoon so I put a call in to one of the parties involved...

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Formula One champion Vettel said to eye stake in Aston Martin, reports suggest

For many fund managers Aston Martin is the stuff of nightmares: a stock that floated in 2018 at £19.00 and now trade at just below 60p.

That's a shocking amount of "value destruction".

But there has been a frisson of excitement around the share since Canadian billionaire wheeler dealer Lawrence Stroll put together a consortium of other racing affionados (Toto Wolff) and other multi-millionaires (Swiss-Italian Ernesto Bertarelli) to refinance the iconic marque...

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Fred Done said to have hired Lazard to work on £2.9 billion William Hill counterbid, reports The Sunday Telegraph - Part 2

Well, it didn't take long for The Sunday Telegraph's splash story about Fred Done's £2.9 billion counterbid to be quashed.

Rival papers, such as City AM and The Times, are quoting spokespeaople or "people close to the situation" as saying the bookie has no interest in mounting a bid for the whole company. Below are the link:..

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Fred Done said to have hired Lazard to work on a £2.9 billion William Hill counter offer, reports The Sunday Telegraph

There are plenty of interesting stories in the British Sunday newspaper sections today, including Neil Craven's piece on the billionaire Issa brothers and their purchase of retail stalwart Asda. Below is the link to Neil's jackanory, which seems to be getting plenty of air time on Twitter this morning:..

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Sir Martin said to be cooking up a mega deal...

Tucked away in yesterday's Evening Standard City Spy column is a little diary story about how Sir Martin Sorrell stayed in Belgravia during the summer months of the crisis instead of escaping to "sunnier climes" such as the South of France.

Apparently, according to the item, Sorrell spent most of his time at his central London pad growing and looking after "oranges and lemons" as it has a sun trap.

Really?..

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