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.
Tucked away on page 2 of The Times business section is a great little jackanory that caught Betaville's eye.
Ben Martin, a former colleague from our time on The Daily Telegraph business section, reveals Bruce Flatt, the boss of Brookfield, has flown to London to meet up with his European head of private equity, Ralf Rank. Below is a link to Ben Martin's scoopette:..
There was acres of coverage of Extinction Rebellion's blockade of the British national newspapers' printing presses over the last 48 hours but for some reason Sir Chris Hohn hardly gets a mention...
Chuckles all round at Betaville towers as senior hacks at the Wall Street Journal backslap themselves for "breaking" the story about Global Insfrastructure Partners and Blackstone's attempt to buy US-listed railroad operator Kansas City Southern for over $20 billion...
The Daily Mail's business section has splashed on a story about CVC Capital Partners weighing a £500 million plus bid for beleguered government outsourcer Capita. Below is the link:
Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Holding's misses out on promotion to the blue chip index for the second time in three months thanks to some weird re-calculating by FTSE Russell.
Below is the statement from FTSE Russell, which appears some to be some tacit confirmation of a screw up by the index compiler.
Pershing Square Holdings (UK)
September Review - FTSE UK Index Series
02 September 2020..
There seems to be an awful lot of excitement in the mainstream business press about which companies are going to be promoted to, and demoted from, the FTSE 100 index.
I suppose there are a dearth of corporate stories around given it's the back end of a summer that has also had to contend with a pandemic. So, the latest quarterly reshuffle will help fill some space (and pixels)...
Voila: Veolia Environnement has launched what appears to be a quasi hostile EURO 10 billion bid for Suez, thereby confirming one aspect of little old Betaville's recent series of Intelligence articles.
Click on the link below to see the piece from ten days ago raising the prospect of a takeover bid for Suez, the French water and waste company...
Farewell then Peter Evans.
Sadly the excellent Enterprise Editor of The Sunday Times is heading off to the calmer climate in the West Country but not before pointing out that Matthew Moulding of the soon-to-be-listed the Hut Group point blank denied he had any plans to float his company when he interviewed him last year. Below is a link to Peter's excellent interview with Mr Moulding:..
Fresh details have emerged about the backers of Run Liang Tai Management, the secretive Chinese investor that has become Telit Communications largest shareholder.
Sunsea Telecommunications, a Shenzhen-listed 'internet of things' provider in which Run Liang is a large shareholder, is said to have disclosed the Chinese group's financial and strategic backers for the first time.
The investors in Run Liang are listed below:
1. Shanghai Xiyuxiang Investment Company..
Hat tip to Oliver "Shahsy" Shah.
Ten days ago the intrepid hack and business editor of The Sunday Times splashed the section he edits with a scoop about Mike Ashley move's to buy Dave Whelan's Sports for more than £30 million. Below is the link:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mike-ashley-bids-for-dave-whelans-bust-dw-sports-cm8mplt5k..
Mark, the "Kleinmanator", Kleinman of Sky News has gone for a Saturday afternoon wind up with a story about BT Group hiring Goldman Sachs and, maybe, Robey Warshaw to work on a defence ahead of a £15 billion takeover approach. Below is the link:
https://news.sky.com/story/bt-group-board-on-alert-for-15bn-takeover-approaches-12054366..
Suez, the France-listed water and waste group, has come under the spotlight amid a fresh round of takeover speculation.
People following the situation have heard rumours Suez is "back in play".
However, it's not clear which company is circling Suez, said people following the situation.
Suez, though, has repeatedly been at the centre of takeover rumours over the last three years as its largest shareholder, Engie, has weighed buying the company outright...
Betaville has spent the day poking around the Le Figaro scoop about Accor's plan to engineer a £12 billion merger with Intercontinental Hotels Group.
Here is what I have dug out: the story WAS accurate i.e. sources familiar with the situation say Accor looked at IHG but this was a while back...
Who says nothing happens in France during August?
Well, apparently CAC 40-listed hotels giant Accor is working on a multimillion pound "merger" with FTSE 100-listed Intercontinental Hotels Group...
OKYO Pharma today effectively confirmed the little snippet in last weekend's Mail on Sunday Stockwatch column, which I occasionally edit when Jamie "Nimmers" Nimmo is away on holiday.
Below is a link to today's announcement from OKYO Pharma, which has appointed Dr Napoleone Ferrara, MD, Professor at the University of California San Diego Medical Center to its scientific advisory board...
A loyal reader got in touch yesterday to point out that Matthew Freud has gobbling up shares in Reach4entertainment, the live events communications business that is quietly pursuing a de-listing from the Aim market.
Last week it emerged Freud - the uber spin doctor and former husband of Elizabeth Murdoch - had boosted his shareholding in Reach4entertainment to 18.67pc, according to regulatory filings. Click on the link below:..
[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].