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.
Wednesday, 15 October 2014, 2:55 am
Here is an interesting snippet on the sale of three airports by Heathrow Airport Holdings.
I have been told that the consortium comprising Spain's Ferrovial, Australia's Macquarie and Singapore fund GIC are close to finalising the £1 billion acquisition of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports.
I know this story has been comprehensively covered in recent weeks but my sources tell me the deal might be announced at the end of this week. ..
Read more...
Monday, 13 October 2014, 11:55 pm
Great to be invited back on Tip TV with hosts Moose and Zac...
Read more...
Sunday, 12 October 2014, 1:23 pm
I must visit Santini more often...
Read more...
Thursday, 9 October 2014, 1:45 pm
..Read more...
Thursday, 9 October 2014, 6:53 am
What has happened to strategic review of Capital Economics, the economics consultancy founded by well-known economist and Daily Telegraph commentator Roger Bootle?
Readers might recall that in June 2013 I broke the story while working at Financial News that Capital Economics had hired advisers from Quayle Munro to work on a strategic review (banker parlance for a sale)...
Read more...
Wednesday, 8 October 2014, 1:26 am
Hat tip to the Bloomberg M&A reporting team for smoking out Glencore's approach to Rio Tinto about a $160 billion merger...
Read more...
Wednesday, 8 October 2014, 12:16 am
I see Hewlett-Packard yesterday indicated that it is considering further dealmaking after confirming its demerger plans...
Read more...
Tuesday, 7 October 2014, 2:07 am
Scribblers round at Goldman Sachs last Friday published a particularly bearish note on Marston's, the FTSE 250 pub company, and reiterated the shares are a "conviction sell". Ouch. ..
Read more...
Monday, 6 October 2014, 11:48 am
Old Russell Chambers got a mention in Dominic Walsh's diary column in The Times last Friday...
Read more...
Friday, 3 October 2014, 5:15 am
Interesting to see that former Kleinwort Benson banker Alan Yarrow was earlier this week elected to be the new Lord Mayor of London...
Read more...
Thursday, 2 October 2014, 12:23 am
I was expecting dealmaking the UK to roar back into life after Summer. But it's unusually quiet in the UK M&A market at the moment, with only just a couple of mid-market deals knocking around, such as Greene King's £700m bid for Spirit...
Read more...
Monday, 29 September 2014, 6:51 pm
I have spent the last few weeks trying to find out which investment bank has been advising Microchip Technology on its approach for CSR, the London-listed chipmaker. So far, I haven't turned up with anything...
Read more...
Thursday, 25 September 2014, 9:32 pm
Mike Ashley's multi-million pound punt on Tesco has certainly caused a stir in the London market this morning...
Read more...
Thursday, 25 September 2014, 8:55 pm
Alistair Osborne's business comment column in The Times today is well worth read. Osborne is an acerbic writer and professional wind up merchant who I used to work with at The Daily Telegraph. His comment on Rocket Internet's IPO is particularly amusing. Here is a link to it:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/alistairosborne/article4217149.ece..
Read more...
Thursday, 25 September 2014, 5:59 am
It's a bit late in the day but just a quick note to congratulate Bryce Elder, the stock market reporter over at the Financial Times, on yesterday's scoop about Greene King's £700m takeover approach for rival Spirit. Here is a link to Bryce's piece: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cb3478c6-4338-11e4-be3f-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3EAr0HkhD..
Read more...
Wednesday, 24 September 2014, 2:05 am
I realise most of the dealmaking community is currently focused on the risk that some large pharmaceutical deals may collapse. But I have stumbled across a potential pharmaceutical deal that is unlikely to be affected by the US government's attempt to clamp down on corporate "tax inversions"...
Read more...
Monday, 22 September 2014, 6:14 pm
Gary Parkinson has written another cracking 'Trade Secrets' column in The Times this morning and here is a link to it: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/tradesecrets/article4213584.ece..
Read more...
Friday, 19 September 2014, 5:56 pm
It looks like that rather large block trade in Perform shares from earlier in the week was nothing more than an institutional seller exiting to a bunch of risk arbitrageurs (hedge funds that bet on takeover bids).
In case you forgot, here is a link to the piece I did earlier in the week:
http://betaville123.blogspot.co.il/2014/09/performing.html..
Read more...
Wednesday, 17 September 2014, 4:19 pm
Well, it looks like my foray into reporting on US cloud computing deals has ended with a bit of whimper...
Read more...
Wednesday, 17 September 2014, 4:57 am
A rather large line of Perform stock - over 40 million shares - changed hands in almost one go at the close of the London market this evening. Investec is thought to have done a lot of the business (lucky them)...
Read more...
[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].