Negotiating the value of equity research for the post Mifid II regime - part 2
Poor old Michael Burt. Rival media organisations were being rather mean to him today after Exane BNP Paribas analyst published an "underperform" research note at 6:00am on Intu Properties, which suggested a takeover is highly unlikely. An hour later Hammerson announces the £3.4 billion purchase of Intu. Betaville, though, knows how difficult it is to land accurate M&A stories, so will refrain from making fun of Burt.
But the poor timing of Burt's call just goes to show how difficult it's going to be to market "equity research" next year following the implementation of Mifid II. Indeed, Betaville understands from buy-side sources that most brokers are now offering their equity research portals for £10,000 a pop after initially trying it on at £150,000.
At least, analysts over at Barclays have come up with some well-timed insight on Whitbread. In a note to clients this morning, the broker wrote:
We also flagged at the time, however, that for longer-term investors we do sense a more open approach from management regarding a possible separation of the 2 businesses on a c18 month view which could result in a significant premium rating being applied to Costa
A few hours later it emerged activist investor Sachem Head Capital had disclosed a 3.4pc stake in Whitbread, triggering another round of break up speculation.....