Betaville

Drahi's Altice buys 12.1pc stake in BT Group - Part 2

If you were wondering how Patrick Drahi's Altice managed to suddenly turn up with a 12.1pc stake in BT Group then you should read Alistair Osborne's column in today's business section of The Times.

According to Alistair's piece, Drahi's advisers at Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas bought most of the stock on their own accounts in small batches via derivatives and then handed it over to Drahi's sub-3pc holding. Below is the link to the full column:..

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Drahi's Altice buys 12.1pc stake in BT Group

Patrick Drahi, the French telecoms billionaire, has finally revealed his hand regarding his interest in BT Group.

This morning Altice, the telecoms company controlled by Drahi, has revealed it has bought a 12.1pc in the London-listed telecoms giant.

Now, for loyal followers of my work news of Drahi's interest may not come as too much of a surprise...

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Sunday review: BT Group, Royal KPN NV and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners

Today's British Sunday newspapers all led with cracking corporate scoops on their respective front pages - something Betaville hadn't seen for a while.

There was The Sunday Telegraph's tale about William Hill's new owner selling off its British betting shops, possibly to Apollo. Below is the link:..

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The telecoms giant, the bust up and the (potential) deal...

Betaville has been watching the goings on at BT Group with interest.

For readers unfamiliar with the situation, the company recently announced Jan Du Plessis, the chairman, was planning to retire but that announcement was swiftly followed up by a scoop from the Kleinmanator of Sky News about how Philip Jansen, BT's chief executive, gave boardroom colleagues an ultimatum over his own future that led to the departure...

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BT Group in talks with Macquarie and others about selling stake in Openreach, reports FT - Part 5

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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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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BT Group in talks with Macquarie and others about selling stake in Openreach, reports FT - Part 4

Does anybody else think yesterday's business splash in the The Sunday Telegraph about the Public Investment Fund accumulating a sizeable shareholding in BT Group is connected to the FT's scoop last month about Macquarie holding talks with the FTSE 100-listed telecoms giant about buying a stake in Openreach?..

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BT Group in talks with Macquarie and others about selling stake in Openreach, reports FT - Part 3

The financial commentariat really did get their knickers in a twist about last week's FT scoop about BT Group holding talks with infrastructure investors about a sale of a stake in Openreach.

But I have done a bit preliminary poking around and it would seem there is one very important question: why was the "denial" issued by Clive Selley, the boss of Openreach, through a memo to employees rather the company's chief executive via an RNS?..

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BT Group in talks with Macquarie and others about selling stake in Openreach, reports FT - Part 2

Last night's scoop from the FT about BT selling Opeanreach to Macquarie is getting a serious poo-pooing this morning from analysts, hacks and spinners.

Indeed, Jim "Armo" Armitage, City editor of the Evening Standard, pisses on the story from a high height. Below is a link to his column and a follow up "EXCLUSIVE" containing a "denial" in a leaked memo to Opeanreach staff:..

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BT Group in talks with Macquarie and others about selling stake in Openreach, reports FT

The Pink 'Un has just published a rather good tale about BT Group starting talks about a sale of Openreach as part of a deal that would value the business at up to £22 billion...

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Is the tide turning for Odey the Brexiteer? - part 39

Loyal readers might have noticed an interview piece with Crispin Odey written by yours truly in this weekend's Mail on Sunday. Well, below is a link in case you missed it:

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-8138591/Hedge-fund-tycoon-Crispin-Odey-cashed-2009-crash-hes-115m-crisis.html..

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Labour eye BT Group nationalisation, according to Yahoo Finance - Part 2

So, it would appear Ben Gartside of Yahoo Finance was barking up the right tree when he dug out a rather good scoop in July about Labour looking to nationalise BT Group.

Below is the link to his great story:

https://www.betaville.co.uk/news/labour-eye-bt-group-nationalisation-according-to-y/..

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Sunday review on a Monday: Ted Baker, BT Group and Plus500

Betaville's chums on the Mail on Sunday's business section had a decent haul yesterday.

Indeed, Neil "Neily" Craven's scoop about Ray Kelvin looking at a take private of Ted Baker appears to be the most talked about story in the London market this morning...

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Sunday review on a Monday: BT Group, Phoenix Group and Thomas Cook

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, appreared to definitively rule out any potential re-nationalisation of BT Group in yesterday's The Sunday Times following reports from Yahoo Finance a couple of weeks ago that Labour was looking at the possibility of taking the telecoms giant back into public ownership.

Below is the link to Oliver Shah and John Collingridge's fascinating piece in yesterday's business sections:..

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Labour said to eye BT Group (re)nationalisation, reports Yahoo Finance

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:

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/labour-looks-at-nationalising-bt-following-proposal-from-corbyn-ally-071741194.html..

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Sunday review - United Utilities et al, Shell and BT Group

Hat tip to John "The Ridge" Collingridge, deputy City editor of The Sunday Times, for landing a cracking tale in today's The Sunday Times about Labour's plans to take private/renationalise the country's water companies at a discount.

I can't imagine investors in London's listed water companies (United Utlities, Pennon Group and Severn Trent) are too happy about that! Below is a link to John's scoop:..

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FT Alphaville airs Deutsche Telekom for BT Group bid rumour... - Part 2

Betaville notes Mark Kleinman of Sky News earlier today revealed that BT Group has hired Lazard to sell its fleet management operations (also known as a bunch of vans) for £200 million.

Knowing Kleinman a bit from working together at The Daily Telegraph I'm sure the tale is accurate...

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FT Alphaville airs Deutsche Telekom for BT Group bid rumour...

There was an interesting snippet on this morning's market live session on FT Alphaville.

Bryce Elder, who runs the markets live chat, was suggesting Deutsche Telekom was/is working with advisers to start working on a bid for BT Group. Below is a link to the markets live session:

https://ftalphaville.ft.com/marketslive/2018-11-06/..

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