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.

Spirent Communications draws £1 billion plus counter offer from Keysight Technologies, reveals Sky News

Wednesday, 27 March 2024, 8:24 pm

The old Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman is on a hot streak at the moment.

The Sky News City editor has just popped with another deal scoop.

This time Kleiny, a former colleague during our time on The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Telegraph, has revealed that US-listed firm Keysight Technologies is preparing to launch a 200p a share counter offer for Spirent Communications...

Read more...

Johnson & Johnson in talks to buy Shockwave Medical for over $10 billion, reveals the Wall Street Journal

Tuesday, 26 March 2024, 6:58 pm

Little old Betaville is in another grump.

Why?

Well, I was chasing down the takeover rumours circulating about Shockwave, the US-listed medical device company, and just as I was about to publish an alert rivals at the Wall Street Journal pumped out their scoop about Johnson & Johnson's bid for the company. Below is a link to WSJ's scoop:..

Read more...

Betaville Intelligence

UNCOOKED ALERT: DS Smith said to ... - Part 8

Tuesday, 26 March 2024, 5:16 pm

Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman of Sky News has just popped up with a cracking new line on the DS Smith takeover talks.

According to the Kleinmanator, International Paper is considering launching a £5 billion counter offer for DS Smith.

The move comes amid UK-listed Mondi's talks to purchase DS Smith, first revealed by little old Betaville, to buy its rival for around 373p a share to create a £10 billion packaging giant...

Read more...

Betaville Intelligence

UNCOOKED ALERT: Interpublic Group of Companies Inc said to ... - Part 2

Monday, 25 March 2024, 8:51 pm

So, it would appear Barron's (owned by the The Wall Street Journal) has attempted to follow little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert about the Interpublic Group of Companies.

It's a bit of a strange article. Initially, the Barron's story attempts to pour cold water on little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert but at the same time argues little old Betaville might be barking up the right tree. Talk about sitting on the fence!..

Read more...

Bears circle Global Life Inc...

Thursday, 21 March 2024, 3:40 pm

US-listed insurance group Global Life has taken a bit of kicking in recent weeks.

Earlier this month a report in Business Insider suggested the US Department of Justice launched an investigation into Global Life and its subsidiary American Income Life. Below is a link to that piece:..

Read more...

Betaville Intelligence

UNCOOKED ALERT: Equals Group said to ... - Part 3

Wednesday, 20 March 2024, 10:21 pm

Loyal readers might recall that little old Betaville smoked out takeover interest in London-listed payments company Equals Group from US private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners late last year when this website published an UNCOOKED Alert about the bid speculation surrounding the company.

Below is a link to Betaville's original UNCOOKED Alert in case you don't recall:..

Read more...

Permira weighs takeover of France-listed Exclusive Networks, reveals Reuters

Friday, 15 March 2024, 7:23 am

Hat tip to Amy-Jo Crowley.

The intrepid Reuters hacks dug out a decent deal scoop yesterday that little old Betaville happened to be chasing down, too.

According to Crowley's report, private equity house Permira is looking at taking private the French cyber security company Exclusive Networks after approaches from rivals about a deal. Below is a link to Amy-Jo's whole report:..

Read more...

The former Chancellor of the Exchequer, the boutique investment bank firm and, er, insert anything they are both involved with here... - the series returns - Part 7

Friday, 15 March 2024, 7:02 am

Reports emerged overnight in the Financial Times and Bloomberg that Redbird IMI may now be looking to offload The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator after British parliamentarians moved to block the sale of the titles to the Redbird IMI investment vehicle backed by the United Arab Emirates. Below is a link to the FT piece:..

Read more...

British Land should merge with Land Securities to create £8 billion generalist property giant, argues Oliver Shah in React News

Thursday, 14 March 2024, 10:03 am

Oliver "Shahsy" Shah has gone big today in his React News column by calling for an £8 billion merger of British Land and Land Securities. Below is a link to the piece by The Sunday Times hack:

https://reactnews.com/article/shah-on-property-why-the-time-may-have-finally-come-for-british-landsec/..

Read more...

AstraZeneca snaps up Amolyt Pharma for over $1 billion

Thursday, 14 March 2024, 7:19 am

There has been talk that perhaps dealmaking in the biopharmaceutical industry was waning following the the string of deal announcements in December 2023.

However, AstraZeneca has just put paid to that theory by announcing another takeover deal. This time the FTSE 100-listed company has agreed to purchase Amolyt Pharma, a France-based company focused on developing novel treatments for rare endocrine diseases...

Read more...

Bears maul Eurofins Scientific SE, again!

Monday, 11 March 2024, 3:36 pm

Bears have once again sunk their teeth into Eurofins Scientific, the Luxembourg-based French testing company.

Word reaches little old Betaville that Shadowfall - the activist short selling firm led by Mathew Earl, dubbed by some as the "dark destroyer" - published another note a couple of weeks ago about Eurofins containing some allegations...

Read more...

Just Group may be a takeover target, reports The Times

Saturday, 9 March 2024, 7:10 pm

The Times today also reports that specialist London-listed insurer Just Group may be a takeover target.

Well, the suggestion is effectively hooked on some quotes from Barrie Cornes, an analyst from Panmure Gordon.

Now old Barrie Cornes has been covering the British insurance market as a stockbroker scribbler since little old Betaville was a cub reporter on The Daily Telegraph's City desk a long time ago...

Read more...

The newspaper, the dealmakers and the dealmaking...

Saturday, 9 March 2024, 6:57 am

You really know when you in the middle of a dealmaking boom when British newspapers start profiling the investment bankers that put the deals together.

And this morning chums and former colleagues on The Times business section did exactly that.

So, if you are interested in the rainmkers who have been working on the deals announced in the last few days and weeks then I suggest clicking on the link below:..

Read more...

Pollen Street grabs Mattioli Woods for £432 million

Friday, 8 March 2024, 7:28 am

Mattioli Woods is the latest London-listed company to leaving the stock market.

The wealth management and pensions advisory company has agreed a deal to sell itself to private equity house Pollen Street for 804p a share or £432 million, which is just over a 32pc premium.

Now, I would paste the link to the full press release below but little old Betaville is struggling to find it on the regulatory news services this morning.....

Read more...

Vimeo said to draw takeover interest from Bending Spoons, reveals Bloomberg

Tuesday, 5 March 2024, 7:10 pm

Arch rivals at Bloomberg decided to run the Vimeo takeover rumour that has been circulating the European markets over the last couple of weeks.

According to Bloomie, Italian mobile app developer Bending Spoons is consdering a takeover of US-listed video hosting company Vimeo and has been talking to banks about doing the deal. Below is a link to the scoop:..

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].