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.
Betaville IntelligenceTuesday, 25 April 2017, 3:15 pm
I see US-based Sandwich maker AdvancePierre Foods and Tyson Foods have just announced a deal that will the latter buy the former for $4.2 billion.
News of the deal won't come as a surprise to subscribers of the Betaville Intelligence platform as last week's RARE story on AdvancePierre Foods highlighted how the company is likely to be involved in an imminent M&A transaction.
In case you missed it, here is a link to the Betaville Intelligence platform:..
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Tuesday, 25 April 2017, 9:48 am
Splashed across the front page of today's The Guardian is a story about how Open Britain - the advocacy group chaired by PR supremo Roland Rudd and backed by Tory MP Anna Soubry - is urging pro-remain voters in 20 seats held by prominent Brexit-supporting MPs to oust their incumbent but vulnerable representatives in parliament. Here is the link:..
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Monday, 24 April 2017, 4:05 pm
Zak Mir has now deemed himself too important for our weekly session, so the delightful Matt Brown was in the chair today. Here is a link to today's clip:
http://tiptv.co.uk/jimmy-choo-sale-betaville/..
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Sunday, 23 April 2017, 8:30 pm
Sorry for the lack of posts in the last couple of days I have been rather busy doing some freelance work for my chums at The Sunday Times.
Indeed, diligent followers of my work might have noticed I had a few jackanories in today's business section, including one on financial news giant the Mergermarket Group, publisher of Debtwire and Dealreporter...
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Thursday, 20 April 2017, 7:26 pm
Ping! A friendly stockbroker emails over a (translated) quote in Direkt magazine from Johan Carlstrom, the founder and main shareholder of Fingerprint Cards, the biometric technology company.
Apparently, Carlstrom told Direckt that: "There has never been a serious, fully financed bid on the company. However, on a few occasions I have received requests to sell my A and B shares. So far, I have chosen not to do that." Here is the link to the piece:..
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Betaville IntelligenceWednesday, 19 April 2017, 11:42 pm
US-listed AdvancePierre Food Holdings could be involved in an M&A transaction in the near future.
People following the company noted rumours the business is likely to be involved in an "imminent" deal - although the precise nature of the transaction is unclear.
One person speculated a potential bidder for Advance Pierre Food Holdings, which specialises in making sandwiches, could be Hormel Food Corporation...
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Tuesday, 18 April 2017, 9:13 pm
Whether you work in UK financial markets or not clearly the biggest news event of the day was Theresa May's decision to call a snap general election.
What I'm wondering, though, is whether this bunch of centre ground, pro-European politicians, businessmen and City types - led by PR supremo Roland Rudd, founder of Finsbury - will break cover before the general election with their new political party or wait until Labour is decimated on June 8?..
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Betaville IntelligenceTuesday, 18 April 2017, 12:12 pm
Dutch digital security company Gemalto is being circled by a mystery buyer.
People claiming to be familiar with the matter said Gemalto is rumoured to have received a non-binding proposal conditional on due diligence although it's not clear what price the buyer is willing to pay for business.
Some people suggested the approach for Gemalto had come from French IT services group Atos...
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Thursday, 13 April 2017, 11:00 am
I see Dom Walsh, a top hack, has made a decent attempt to skewer embattled Deutsche Bank in today's business diary column over Tom Cooper's "mysterious" decision to quite the financial institution...
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Wednesday, 12 April 2017, 8:24 pm
Driving home from the gym this evening I was pleased to hear former colleague and boss Kamal Ahmed, ex City editor of The Sunday Telegraph and now BBC Economics Editor, come on Radio 4's news programme.
However, the aural experience was disturbed by the fact that interviewer insisted Kamal deliver his interpretation of the today's Office of National Statistics figures whilst playing table tennis. Yes, you read it correctly - whilst playing table tennis...
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Tuesday, 11 April 2017, 2:28 pm
Now that the bid battle for Stada appears to be done and dusted (you never know, though, there could be a final twist) little old Betaville would like to remind readers of the piece I published in early December about how the German pharmaceutical company was working with bankers on "strategic options" after receiving informal expressions of interest. Below is the link to the piece:..
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Tuesday, 11 April 2017, 7:50 am
It took a bit longer than I expected but Independent Oil and Gas has finally confirmed my tale about it buying a North Sea pipeline from Tullow Oil. I have pasted the link below:
http://www.investegate.co.uk/independent-oil---38-gas--iog-/rns/acquisition-of-sns-pipeline/201704110700151238C/..
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Monday, 10 April 2017, 2:17 pm
Zak had already slung his hook by the time I turned up today so the charming Matt Brown was in the chair instead. Here is a link to today's session:
http://tiptv.co.uk/ma-update-chinese-billionaire-eyeing-shaftesbury-betaville/..
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Saturday, 8 April 2017, 10:48 am
The Mergermarket Group is in advanced discussions to buy financial technology company TIM Group from its founders and investors, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Well-placed sources said the Mergermarket Group, which is being advised Deloitte, has effectively agreed a deal with TIM Group's founders, Colin Berthoud and Richard Koppel, to purchase TIM Group for around £30 million...
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Friday, 7 April 2017, 1:58 pm
Oh look: China Africa Resources - now called Pembridge Resources - has effectively confirmed yesterday's jackanory. Click on the link below for all the detail about the move to become an investment company.
http://www.investegate.co.uk/china-africa-res-plc--caf-/rns/change-of-name--registered-address-and--update/201704071120279452B/..
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Betaville IntelligenceFriday, 7 April 2017, 9:56 am
Here are a couple of interesting nuggets on the Centaur Media story I broke a few weeks ago.
Good sources have told little old Betaville that Centaur's Homebuilding and Renovation division might be worth substantially more than I previously reported. People involved in the sale process believe Home Interest is likely to be sold for around £30 million, which is about half of Centaur Media's current market capitalisation...
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Thursday, 6 April 2017, 4:15 pm
Remember my tale about about China Africa Resources? (in case you don't, here is the link: https://www.www.betaville.co.uk/news/revealed-the-real-reason-china-africa-resources-changed-its-name-to-pembridge-resources-sources). ..
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Thursday, 6 April 2017, 10:19 am
Bloomborg did well to get its series of Panera Bread scoops this week, so hat tip to the journos who landed those tales (I wasn't too far behind them but as a one man band freelancer it's sometimes tricky to get things stood up as quickly as a global financial media giant)...
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Betaville IntelligenceWednesday, 5 April 2017, 10:44 am
"People close to the situation" have reached out to little old Betaville with some more information on CPA Global, the £2 billion patent management company I wrote about last week and also in last weekend's The Sunday Times.
According to these "people", Cinven is in the "early stage" of studying "options" for CPA, which is expected to generate around £150 million in operating profits (or EBITDA if your a banker) in 2016/2017...
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Betaville IntelligenceTuesday, 4 April 2017, 3:16 pm
I see the New York Post has published a rather lengthy piece about how MSG Networks is looking to sell itself. Here is the link in case you missed it:
http://nypost.com/2017/04/03/msg-networks-is-looking-to-sell/..
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[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].