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.
Remember the tales of plans to build a £1 billion residential skycraper in Canary Wharf?
Well, yesterday The Sunday Times published the latest twist to the story on the front page of its business section. Here is the link in case you missed yesterday's piece:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/skyscraper-tycoons-held-g09ztsrzx..
Premier Oil put out this rather odd statement - http://www.investegate.co.uk/Index.aspx?searchtype=2&words=Premier+Oil - this afternoon after its shares tanked over the last few days.
Clearly, the market was starting to worry about the completion of the long awaited and somewhat painstaking $2.8 billion debt refinancing deal Premier has been trying to do over the last twelve months...
Here's an interesting little story about a big financial publishing company that gave me one of my first jobs in financial journalism.
I hear the Mergermarket Group - publisher of dealmakers' favourite publications, such as online news services Mergermarket, Dealreporter and Debtwire - is on the verge of selling its life sciences division, Infinata, for up to $20 million...
I guess today's stock market reports in the Financial Times and The Daily Telegraph edge the flag pole alert series further forwards. In case you missed it, I have pasted a link to Bryce Elder's report in the Financial Times below:
https://www.ft.com/content/80db9440-f929-11e6-9516-2d969e0d3b65..
Two days on and the upper echelons of the financial media world are still picking over the carcass of the failed Kraft Heinz / 3G / Warren Buffett / Unilever deal.
Probably the best newspaper piece out there is the "tick tock" by Arash Massoudi and James Fontanella-Kahn in today's Financial Times. Here is the link in case you haven't read it:..
Ben Marlow, a former colleague from a long time ago and now a big cheese at The Daily Telegraph, wrote this opinion piece - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/02/21/botched-bid-unilever-shows-rules-game-have-changed-foreign-takeovers/ - on the changing nature of dealmaking in Britain...
Centaur Media PLC, publisher of Marketing Week, is said to be weighing a sale of its Homebuilding and Renovation division.
According to sources close to the situation, London-listed Centaur Media has offered buy-out firms the opportunity to express an interest in purchasing Homebuilding and Renovation, which consists of a magazine and an event...
I see the lead item in today's Daily Mail city diary is about how leading investment banks missed out on a massive fee bonanza after the Kraft Heinz's $143 billion takeover approach for Unilever collapsed...
Below is a link to today's session with Jenny Hammond and Zak Mir - and, unsurprisingly, we spent a lot of time talking about Unilever!
http://tiptv.co.uk/potential-takeover-targets-kraft-heinz-betaville/..
Take a bow Bryce Elder, stock market reporter over at the Financial Times. The intrepid hack has just landed the M&A scoop of the year, decade or, perhaps, century with his tale this morning about Kraft Heinz's £100 billion plus takeover approach for Unilever. If you follow M&A, I'm sure you have seen the statements.
I suspect rival hacks, such as the Kleinmanator of Sky News or team Bloomborg, will have trouble topping that one. Good luck to them...
Will 2017 be a better year for Crispin Odey, one of Britain's best-known hedge fund managers?
Well, in the some respects things are on the up for the charasmatic buffer, who once spent over £150,000 on a Palladian style mansion for his pet chickens...
US-listed Radius Health saw it's shares gain almost 7pc yesterday thanks to a piece on Streetinsider.com about Shire renewing its interest in the business. I have pasted the link to the Streetinsider article below:
http://www.streetinsider.com/dr/news.php?id=12554558&gfv=1..
The chaps and chapettes at FT Alphaville appear to be running behind schedule this week so I thought I should step in and fill the void.
I guess one event the market will be scrutinising will be Liberty Global's full-year results, which I'm told by people familiar with the matter will be unveiled this evening in the US...
Oh look - I see US-based medical laser company Cynosure today announced a deal to sell itself to Hologic for $1.6 billion. If you missed the deal announcement click on the link below:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cynosure-m-a-hologic-idUSKBN15T1OI..
No sooner had I posted the link to this morning's Tip TV session with Zak Mir than Allergan announced a $2.5 billion deal to buy Zeltiq Aesthetics!
Now, regular followers of my work will recall that, as well as today, I mentioned body sculpting company Zeltiq Aesthetics as a potential takeover target on Tip TV a few weeks ago. Here is the link:..
It was good to catch up with my old mucker Zak Mir this morning. Below is a link to today's clip:
http://tiptv.co.uk/ma-update-co-op-looks-buyers-stada-receives-bids/..
Hacks over at the FT dug out a great story overnight - https://www.ft.com/content/e21d830a-f13e-11e6-95ee-f14e55513608 - about German drugmaker Stada receiving bids from a couple of private equity firms. And the German company has subsequently confirmed its received indicative approaches...
I see the uber bankers at Robey Warshaw have emerged as one of the lead advisers to FTSE 100-listed Reckitt Benkiser on its $18 billion acquisition of baby food company Mead Johnson.
Once again, I have mixed feelings about the chaps at Robey Warshaw winnning this mandate. Why?..
Trade publications really are having a good week on the story front this week.
Indeed, today legal publication The Lawyer landed a rather intriguing tale about how a British High Court judge has thrown into question the legitimacy of a £16 million bill charged to Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation by Decherts, the law firm that counts the former deputy prime minister's wife as a partner...
I realise this is a bit a late in the day but a loyal reader has got in touch with an interesting nugget from Japan Tobacco's results earlier this week.
Tucked away on page 6 of Japan Tobacco's investor presentation is an intriguing line about how is looking to "expand geographically notably through acquisitions". Here is a link to Japan Tobacco's investor presentation in case you haven't read it:..
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