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.
Just 48 hours after Betaville's RARE alert on Chelsea FC/Stella EOC it is revealed by former colleagues at The Daily Telegraph that the proprietor of the club is to be targeted by British intelligence as part of a sustained campaign to disrupt Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Below is a link to Con Coughlin's piece:..
Football club M&A tends to operate in parallel universe to standard City dealmaking. Well, at least that's what Betaville has experienced over the last decade of covering mergers and acquistions for the business sections of some of Britain's top newspapers.
So, readers should note the above before continuing to read this tale. And to be clear this snippet is very much RARE (see the definition below) of the RAREST kind...
Another one of Betaville's former employers - Euromoney Institutional Investor - is in the limelight this morning.
Yes, a long, long time ago Betaville started off as a cub reporter/graduate trainee on Air Finance Journal, one of Euromoney's leading publications, on terrible wages (around 12k a year pre-tax).
But I appreciated the start and it clearly led on to bigger things, so thanks Euromoney...
Ping! A friendly broker gets in touch to point out that Coast Capital, a New York-based activist hedge fund, has increased its stake in beleguered bus and rail operator FirstGroup to 4.1pc. Below is a link to the RNS disclosure:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/firstgroup-plc--fgp-/prn/holding-s--in-company/20181205131449P16D7/..
Brexit shenanigans are certainly clogging up the City's dealmaking arteries in Britain but there is one sector that is still seeing a lot of activity - publishing, trade shows and exhibitions.
There have been quite a few deals in the space since the beginning of the year - i.e. Informa's £9 billion merger with UBM - and Betaville hears there are likely to be a few more...
Oh look - I see maverick Mike Ashley has just told Kingy over at Sky News that talks about a sale of Newcastle United are now "at a more progressed stage than they have ever been". Below is a link:
https://news.sky.com/story/mike-ashley-eyes-imminent-sale-of-newcastle-utd-11571007..
There hasn't been much of a market reaction to Dealreporter's latest twist on the Acadia Healthcare buy-out.
The news/intelligence agency, which a long time ago Betaville worked for prior to my days at The Daily Telegraph, claimed over the weekend that KKR is still in talks with Acadia Healthcare despite reports to the contrary...
So, the party season has begun. This week Betaville was lucky enough to attend one of the best business parties of year - and it was packed with some of the City's top grandees.
Everybody seemed in a jovial mood, especially as the booze was flowing. But once the conversation turned to the dreaded Brexit the chat soured...
Here is a little update for readers interested in last week's tale about the American REITs interested in Barchester Healthcare, the care home giant.
Sources following the situation said it's unlikely the likes of Welltower Inc and Ventas will look to buy Barchester outright as they are primarily interested in the company's property portfolio...
David Wighton, City Editor at Financial News, landed a great scoop on Monday about Macquarie trying to buy Liberum, one of the City of London's mid tier stockbrokers. Below is a the link:
https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/macquarie-in-talks-to-buy-liberum-20181126..
The owner of Aston Lark is preparing to appoint advisers to work on a sale of one of Britain's largest independent insurance brokers.
City sources said Bowmark Capital, the private equity firm that owns Aston Lark, has been quietly carrying out a beauty parade of investment bankers with a view to appointing a firm to run a sale of the business in early 2019.
Industry sources said they thought Aston Lark could be sold for between £300 million and £350 million...
The Irish punters that invested in care home giant Barchester Healthcare could be about make another from the fortune from the care home company.
Betaville understands that several large American companies, including listed real estate investment trust Welltower Inc, have shown an interest in the business, whose owners have appointed JP Morgan to find a buyer...
Li Ka-shing has purchased some of Britain's largest businesses but buying the embattled Earls Court development from Capital & Counties might not be as straight forward as the tycoon expected...
Oh look - I see London-listed medical devices company BTG has finally come out and unveiled a £3.3 billion takeover bid from US predator Boston Scientific Group.
Subscribers to Betaville Intelligence won't be too surprised about today's announcement as this news service was the first to flag BTG was in play in the middle July. Below is a link to the piece:..
Sir Simon Robey and Simon Warshaw - the uber bankers and founders of London-based M&A advisory firm Robey Warshaw - have taken a pay cut, according to Financial News.
In the 12 months to March 18, revenues the firm fell 60pc but the highest paid employee (presumably either Sir Simon or Mr Warshaw) still received £12.1 million, so cry me a river. Below is a link to the Financial News piece:..
So, after a hiatus of several months Stefan Persson, the chairman of Hennes & Maurtiz, was today adding to this year's mammoth share purchase.
The Swedish billionaire squire - who owns vaste swathes of Britain's West Country - has this year spent almost $1 billion on buying shares in the company his father founded 71 years ago but today he added another 5.46 million shares to his shareholding, according to Bloomberg...
The answer is: a corporate broker (an English concept whereby a company retains an investment bank to be its "interface" with the stock market).
Yes, Betaville learned last night whilst out a top quality party packed with City grandees (such as Lord Myners, former chairman of Marks & Spencer), investment bankers and chief executives that Shore Capital had displaced Citigroup as corporate broker to Marks & Spencer...
This is a story that's been going backwards and forwards for the last couple of years. And no, Betaville isn't referring to the dreaded Brexit. It's the potential sale of Newcastle United Football Club by its billionaire owner Mike Ashley...
[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].