It's been a while since the London market has seen an good old fashioned stakebuilding in a FTSE 100-listed company by wily entrepreneurs.
So Betaville perked up when chums got in touch to point out that L&R Ventures, a vehicle controlled by canny billionaire property tycoons Ian and Richard Livingstone had built a 3.5pc stake in Whitbread, the owner of budget hotel company Premier Inn...
So, Alison Brittain can rest easy. Why?
Well, apparently Nelson Peltz's firm was seriously considering targeting Whitbread for the corporate raider's new London-listed fund (https://www.trianinvestors1.com) but City souces said Trian recently decided against such a move.
And it's not just because Brittain has struck a deal to sell Costa Coffee to Coca Cola for £3.9 billion...
Boom! Coca Cola buys Costa Coffee out of Whitbread for over $5 billion.
Now, did anybody in the financial media see that coming?..
Apologies for the delayed Sunday review delay Betavillers - I have been rather busy.
Anyway, I was pleased to see Sunday journalism is still alive, well and kicking in the UK as all of the business sections were packed with some excellent scoops, investigative features and interviews...