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, 16 April 2020, 7:45 pm
One of Betaville's favourite business commentators today follows the theme I laid out yesterday about Hiscox but probably in a more eloquent style than myself.
I am off course referring to Alistair "acerbic" Osborne, a former boss and colleague from my days at The Daily Telegraph City desk, and his piece in today's The Times about Hiscox's refusal to pay out claims to small and medium-sized businesses. I have pasted the link below:..
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Wednesday, 15 April 2020, 6:18 pm
That didn't take long.
Rougly 30 minutes after Betaville published today's piece Hiscox put out a statement attempting to clarify the issue. Below is a link:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/hiscox-ltd--hsx-/rns/market-update-re-business-interruption-exposure/202004151420287747J/..
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Wednesday, 15 April 2020, 1:52 pm
Shares of Lloyd's of London insurer Hiscox were down almost over 40pc in the last 48 hours amid concerns for the future of the company.
Now, there are several good reasons why the stock is so out of fashion. I will list them below:..
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Tuesday, 14 April 2020, 9:09 am
I see Hyve Group has this morning confirmed my report on this website and in the Mail on Sunday about a potential equity capital raising. Below is the link:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/hyve-group-plc--hyve-/rns/response-to-recent-press-speculation/202004140700094711J/..
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Saturday, 11 April 2020, 10:05 pm
Hyve Group, the London-listed exhibitions and conferences company, is working on an equity capital raising.
People familiar with the matter said Hyve Group, which puts on the Pure fashion trade show at Kensington Olympia, is in relatively advanced discussions about a major equity fundraising deal with its advisers and brokers, which include Numis...
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Thursday, 9 April 2020, 9:07 pm
So, the cat is finally out of the bag at Circassia Pharmaceuticals: the company announced this morning that it would cancel the agreement with AstraZeneca for the US commercial rights to Tudorza and Duaklir in return for the FTSE 100 giant writing off a $150 million loan...
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Thursday, 9 April 2020, 12:07 am
Small cap enthusiasts might want to keep an eye on Aim-listed Tiziana Life Sciences.
Word reaches Betaville that the company has developed a unique approach for the fight against Coronavirus.
In case you don't recall Tiziana's shares soared over 200pc last month during one trading session after it launched plans to fastrack a drug it thinks could treat some of the more severe symptons of Coronavirus...
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Wednesday, 8 April 2020, 7:31 pm
Betaville spends a lot of time talking to top City of London dealmakers even when they are working from home. Most of them say that everything that was being looked at by potential acquirers prior to early March is either off or on hold. Some M&A bankers are looking at moving into restructuring...
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Tuesday, 7 April 2020, 8:10 am
Here is a bit of light reading to get you through these troubling times.
Do you remember Betaville's tale about Sir Chris Hohn's denial of the purchase of a north London mansion? I came across the story when I first set up Betaville in 2014. Below is the link to my original piece:..
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Monday, 6 April 2020, 8:25 am
So, it would appear Neil "Neily" Craven was bang on the money with yesterday's story about WH Smith weighing an equity capital raising. In case you don't recall, below is a link to Neil's piece:
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-8188021/WH-Smith-expected-tap-investors-cash-forced-close-lucrative-travel-business.html..
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Sunday, 5 April 2020, 4:33 pm
Hat tip to Oliver Shah, Sabah Meddings, Gabriel Pogrund and Caroline Wheeler at The Sunday Times for digging out today's main book scoop about how the Abu Dhabi-owned ExCel centre was trying to charge the NHS between £2 million and £3 million in rent to the NHS for the new Nightingale hospital. Below is the link:..
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Friday, 3 April 2020, 9:50 pm
A hearty congratulations goes out to former colleague Philip Aldrick, economics editor at The Times. Today he won the the Business and Finance Journalist of the Year award from the Society of Editors.
I have worked across the business desks of 'Fleet Street' for a quite a while and I couldn't think of a more diligent but understated journalist as Phil Aldrick, who I used to work alongside at The Daily Telegraph several years ago...
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Thursday, 2 April 2020, 9:21 pm
I see The Times business section today ran a piece on the front page of its business section about Nestle buying Lily's Kitcken, the upmarket pet food brand.
Now that won't come as much of surprise to regular followers of my work as I first broke the news of Lily's Kitchen hiring advisers late last year in the Mail on Sunday's business section. See below:..
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Wednesday, 1 April 2020, 9:45 pm
It's tough to get excited about bid tales in this awful bear market. But today there was a line tucked away in the Alex Brummer's column in the business section of the Daily Mail that might give bulls something to chew over...
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Tuesday, 31 March 2020, 8:18 am
"Airlines have got shareholders who should put THEIR hands in their own pockets". That's what Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport, just said when asked about whether UK-based airlines should be given government-backed bailouts on Radio 4 this morning...
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Monday, 30 March 2020, 4:35 pm
Was anybody aware that Sir Paul Marshall, one of Britain's most sucessful hedge fund managers, had written a book?
Well, Betaville certainly wasn't until intreprid hack Tom Teodorczuk at Financial News discovered the founder Marshall Wace, which manages about £40 billion, published the book a few weeks ago. Below is a link to Tom's scoop:..
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Saturday, 28 March 2020, 7:59 pm
Clearly, there are more important things happening in the world at the moment than mergers & acquisitions.
In fact, the global crisis has effectively completely upended the dealmaking market, with Bloomberg reporting that many M&A bankers are trying to reinvent themselves as restructuring advisers...
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Thursday, 26 March 2020, 10:10 pm
Ping! HSBC's HedgeWeekly publication arrives with the performance figures of Europe's best and worst performing hedge funds.
Now, given Crispin Odey has been a big bear since 2015 and this weekend the old buffer told Betaville he had made £115 million in March you might expect his flagship fund to be the best performer...
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Wednesday, 25 March 2020, 7:04 pm
It sounds like there is more to the sale of Robert Tchenguiz's 6pc shareholding in FirstGroup than meets the eye.
Last week, brokers to the flamboyant property entrepreneur forced him to sell is investment after he failed to come up with the "margin" (cash to fund the leveraged position held by spreadbetting firms), say people following the situation...
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Tuesday, 24 March 2020, 5:56 pm
Robert Tchenguiz may have bailed out of FirstGroup but his chum at Coast Capital is upping its shareholding in the bus and rail company.
According to a regulatory filing, activist investor Coast Capital now owns almost 14pc of FirstGroup. See the link below:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/firstgroup-plc--fgp-/prn/holding-s--in-company/20200324084116P13C6/..
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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].