UNCOOKED ALERT: Royal KPN NV said to .....
Thursday, 11 July 2019, 8:28 am
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.
RARE ALERT: Morses Club said to ...
Wednesday, 10 July 2019, 4:47 pm
Another day, another Woodford exit from the stock market.
People claiming to be familiar with the matter have told Betaville Neil Woodford is close to dumping his 10pc stake in Morses Club, another one of the fund manager's lender investments, at around 130p a share.
Woodford Investment Management also owns big shareholdings in Provident Financial and Non-Standard Finance, which earlier this year were involved in a hostile takeover...
UNCOOKED ALERT: Ontex said to ... - Part 2
Tuesday, 9 July 2019, 4:43 pm
It has been brought tomy attention that the Spanish financial website Intereconomia is reporting that Proctor & Gamble has hired Goldman Sachs to launch a takeover bid for Ontex, the Belgian diaper maker, and linking this bid story to Betaville.
This is a complete misrepresentation of what I wrote several weeks ago in an UNCOOKED ALERT...
Tags: Ontex
The strange goings-on with Thomas Cook's debt...- Part 2
Tuesday, 9 July 2019, 2:14 pm
Thomas Cook's debt is coming back into focus as a few punters have noticed credit default swaps for some of the company's bonds are blowing out a tad.
According to Bloomberg data, the CDS - the cost of insurance for a bond - for one Thomas Cook note has leapt by 12000 basis points or around 120pc while the security flirts with an all time low of 34 cents (its denominated in EUROS)...
Tags: Thomas Cook
RARE ALERT: Marston's said to ... - Part 3
Monday, 8 July 2019, 11:38 pm
Dom Walsh of The Times has also picked up on Marston's potential sale of Pitcher & Piano. Below is a link to his piece:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pitcher-piano-sale-plan-hits-right-note-for-marstons-8wt7f7s3w..
Tags: Marston's, Pitcher & Piano
Sunday review - ITV
Sunday, 7 July 2019, 11:00 pm
Oliver Shah's business comment piece in this weekend's The Sunday Times contains an interesting snippet for ITV watchers: an activist investor is rumoured to be studying the possibility of buying a stake in the broadcaster.
The piece goes on to speculate about how the company could look at splitting itself in two or a combination with a rival, such as Germany's ProSieben. Below is a link:..
REVEALED: Estera on the market for up to £700 million; into the second round - sources
Thursday, 4 July 2019, 3:51 pm
The private equity owner of Estera has hired bankers to find a buyer for the trust administration business and several bidders are circling.
City sources said Bridgepoint has appointed advisers from Deutsche Bank and ING to run an auction process for Estera, which specialises in providing corporate, trust and fund services...
Flutter followers all aflutter about, er, short covering...
Thursday, 4 July 2019, 9:07 am
Today's serious newspapers - the venerable Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Times - pin Flutter's 20pc share price gain during yesterday's session to various bid rumour theories.
US stakebuilding, private equity or a takeover offer from various competitors were tipped as reasons for the share price surge in the company formerly known as Paddy Power Betfair...
Tags: Flutter Entertainment
Two Shields...
Wednesday, 3 July 2019, 9:14 pm
Have you ever come across penny share Two Shield Investments?
I have to admit I hadn't until a loyal reader pointed out it might be worth taking a closer look at the company.
The shares were up almost 20pc today - although it's not clear why.
Anyway, there do seem to be an interesting bunch of characters coming onto the shareholder register, such as Matthew Hammond, the CFO of Mail.RU, a Russian internet company...
Tags: Two Shields, WeShop
Labour said to eye BT Group (re)nationalisation, reports Yahoo Finance
Tuesday, 2 July 2019, 4:55 pm
Hat tip to Ben Gartside at Yahoo Finance, who today revealed how the office of Jeremy Corbyn is weighing a £20 billion nationalisation of telecom giant BT Group. Below is the link to the piece:
Sunday review on a Monday: Caring, the Qataris and the furore over EIS schemes...
Monday, 1 July 2019, 10:37 am
Apologies for the delayed post Betavillers; I was taking in the sunshine south of the Medway yesterday...
More M&A on the way in Britain post Brexit deal, top fund manager tells the Telegraph
Saturday, 29 June 2019, 9:16 am
Tucked away in the back of the business section of my old employer - The Daily Telegraph - are some rather interesting comments from Gervais Williams, the respected fund manager, about the prospect of a pick up in dealmaking.
Williams, who runs the Diverse Income invesmtent trust - told Richard Evans, a rather nice former ex-colleague who writes the Questor column- that London-listed companies are at "unusually attractive valuations"...
RARE ALERT: Marston's said to ... - Part 2
Thursday, 27 June 2019, 10:11 pm
Readers might recall Betaville's RARE ALERT on pub company Marston's last week. Below is the link:
https://www.www.betaville.co.uk/betaville-intelligence/rare-alert-marstons-said-to/..
Tags: Marston's, Pitcher & Piano
UNCOOKED ALERT: Ontex said to ...
Wednesday, 26 June 2019, 8:45 am
Ontex, the Belgian diaper maker, is rumoured to be back "in play".
People claiming to be familiar with the matter said the company is at the centre of speculation about a potential takeover.
However, it's not clear which company is interested in buying Ontex, said these people claiming to be familiar with the matter.
Last year, Ontex received a takeover approach from French private equity firm PAI Partners...
Tags: Ontex
UNCOOKED ALERT: Amgen said to.....
Tuesday, 25 June 2019, 2:05 pm
Tigers on the block
Tuesday, 25 June 2019, 8:19 am
Hat tip to Dom Walsh of The Times business section.
Last night he landed a cracking tale about Leicester FC being put up for sale by its owners. Betaville was particularly interested by this scoop about the rugby club as I'm an avid Rugby Union fan. Below is a link to Dom's piece...
The Treasury, the Bank of England and Linked In
Monday, 24 June 2019, 9:29 pm
If you click on the Linked In job advert for the post of the next Governor of the Bank of England you will find "the job is no longer accepting applications". Below is the link:
Mystery shareholder shuffle at Woodford-backed Oxford Nanopore - Part 3
Saturday, 22 June 2019, 9:57 am
So, the mystery surrounding the shareholding shuffle at Oxford Nanopore Technologies might not actually be a mystery after all!
Back in March it emerged, according to the venerable Financial Times, that after Oxford Nanopore told Woodford of its floatation plans the fund manager was able to sell his 2.15 million shares back to the company, which were cancelled and then reissued as new securities...
RARE ALERT: Marston's said to ...
Thursday, 20 June 2019, 9:22 pm
Marston's, the London-listed brewing group, is said to be plotting a sale of Pitcher and Piano, the well-known chain of bars frequented by City traders, bankers and lawyers.
Sources claiming to be familiar with the matter said Marston's is working with advisers on the disposal, with one source claiming Sapient Corporate Finance might be advising on the deal...
Tags: Marston's
Mystery shareholder shuffle at Woodford-backed Oxford Nanopore Technologies - Part 2
Wednesday, 19 June 2019, 7:20 pm
The mystery surrounding the shareholding shuffle at Oxford Nanopore Technologies continues with a fresh announcement today at Companies House regarding a statement of capital. Below is the link:
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/05386273/filing-history
I wonder what could be going on at the highly-valued firm?..
[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].