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.
Arch rivals at Bloomberg last night published a tale about Cytokinetics Inc, the US-listed late stage biotechnology company. Below is a link:
Today's string of deals include the long awaited sale of Vodafone's Spanish unit to Zegona Communications for £4.3 billion. Below is a link to the announcement:
This week's round of dealmaking in the UK kicks off with Ascential's £1.4 billion sale of two bits of the group to marketing giant Omnicom and Apax.
This morning Ascential, the FTSE 250-listed business information and events group, announced a deal to sell its Digital Commerce unit to Omnicom for £741 million and also the sale of its product design unit (called WGSN) to buy out house Apax for £700 million...
So it emerged over the weekend that Asos, the London-listed online fashion retailer, is weighing a sale of TopShop...
Advising clients to sell shares is back in vogue among the more traditional stockbrokers.
A decade ago or so the blue chip brokers used to write all sorts of negative equity research about London-listed companies but then the thought police took control...
The old Kleinmanator is on fire!
This morning Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman of Sky News reveals in is City AM column that WPP, the FTSE 100-listed advertising giant, has been at the centre of takeover rumours, suggesting American private equity firms Blackstone and Silver Lake are the two firms interested in buying the business. Below is the link to his piece:..
Apologies - it looks like little old Betaville got the recent Frasers Group stakebuilding announcement completely back to front.
It would appear Mike Ashley's Frasers Group has actually reduced its shareholding down from 23pc to 18.9pc. Below is a link to the announcement:..
Mike Ashley's Frasers Group has just topped its stake in Asos, the London-listed online fashion retailer.
Frasers Group this afternoon disclosed it now owns 23pc of Asos. Below is the link to the announcement:
The old Kleinmanator has managed to edge out little old Betaville by getting to the bottom of the The Restaurant Group counterbid tale.
Kleiny, also known as Mark Kleinman of Sky News, has just revealed that the owners of Pizza Express, who include Bain Capital Credit and Cyrus Capital Partners, are weighing up whether to make a counter offer for The Restaurant Group after it recommended a £500 million takeover from Apollo, the US private equity firm...
Another day, another string of takeover deals.
This morning London-listed ScS announced it had recommended a £100 million offer from Italian furniture maker Poltronesofà. The 280p (including the dividend) a share cash offer from Poltronesofà is at a 67pc premium! Below is the link to the press release:..
It's merger Monday again in the US market, with a fresh set of multi-billion dollar takeover deals announced this morning.
1. Chevron has agreed to buy independent US-listed oil producer Hess Corporation for $53 billion in an all stock takeover. Below is the link:..
Tucked away in The Sunday Times Prufrock column was an item that caught little old Betaville's eye.
The diary piece suggests Marc Boyan, a media entrepreneur that recently bought a stake in Charlton Atheltic football club, is interested in buying The Daily Telegraph. ..
Former FT hack Izabella Kaminska was kind enough to invite little old Betaville back onto her Blind Spot Markets Live show yesterday morning.
It was a bit of gloomy day in the wider market but there were quite a few things to talk about, including a few UNCOOKED rumours. Below is a link to yesterday's transcript in case you missed it:..
Bloomberg have leapt onto the Jazz Pharmaceuticals takeover tale.
According to Bloomie, US-listed Jazz is talking to investment banking advisers to figure out whether there is any interest in buying some or all of the business. Below is a link to the Bloomie piece:..
Today's deals include CoStar Group's £99 million purchase of London-listed property website OnTheMarket.
The Nasdaq-listed company is paying 110p a share for OnTheMarket, which is at a premium of 56pc. Below is the link to the press release:
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/market-news/offer-for-onthemarket-plc/16173247..
Companies and private equity firms are still trying to do deals.
The latest potential takeover to hit the the tape is CVC Capital's interest in buying Nexi SpA. Arch rivals at Bloomberg reported overnight that the private equity house is in the early stages of weighing a takeover bid for the Italian payments giant. Below is a link to that piece:..
Arch rivals at Bloomberg have finally followed up little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert about the rumours surrounding Continental AG, the German car pars manufacturing giant.
Late yesterday Bloomberg reported that Continental AG is studying the sale of automotive assets including its autonomous mobility business. Below is a link to the Bloomberg piece:..
[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].