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.
There is some big news out this morning in the pharma/biotech world.
French drugmaker Sanofi has finally confirmed it's interest in purchasing US biotech Medivation - the Medivation takeover rumours were first aired on Tip TV a couple of months ago. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykvdv1pbH1c..
Remember the tabloid tale from a few weeks back about the gold plated supercars? In case you don't, here is the link:..
I see Quob Park Estate, Rob Terry's investment vehicle, has this morning confirmed by tale from yesterday, disclosing on the RNS that he now owns 8.67pc of software consulting company Imaginatik. Here is the link:
http://www.investegate.co.uk/imaginatik-plc--imtk-/rns/holding-s--in-company/201604270904094898W/..
Dom Walsh's piece on the Tui Hotelbeds auction caught my eye this morning...
Rob Terry is boosting his stake in Imaginatik, the AIM-listed "full service innovation company" (whatever that means)...
It's a Monday, so here is a link to today's Tip TV session.
Deal watchers looking for the next big FTSE 100 deal should read Ian King's excellent column in today's The Times...
Olly Shah, of The Sunday Times, and Neil Craven, of the Mail on Sunday, appear to be leading the coverage on this weekend's major business story - the potential collapse of department store chain BHS.
Here are links to their pieces:
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/article1689789.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2016_04_23..
And now the heavyweight wire services are battling it among themselves with non-denial, denial stories.
Yesterday Bloomberg revealed that:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-21/safran-said-to-weigh-bid-for-zodiac-in-french-aerospace-tie-up..
Today's wire reports out of Switzerland made me chuckle.
Apparently, Jean-Paul Clozel, chief executive of Actelion, told Reuters that "there's been absolutely no offer" to takeover the company.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg said "Actelion isn't fending off any takeover approaches, days after a media report cited the drugmaker as possible target for Sanofi or Johnson & Johnson."..
I turned up a little titbit on the M6 toll road situation whilst on the rounds today...
I see Pret a Manger - the up-market sandwich shop favoured by young bankers, hedge fund analysts and lawyers - has been basking in the glory of another set of strong results, with a significant amount of press coverage today. Here a few links:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f48d7a6-0613-11e6-9b51-0fb5e65703ce.html#axzz46NTfCqyl..
Wow - these "old" or "stale" deal stories are becoming quite fashionable.
Reuters has just unveiled an "exclusive" scoop revealing ChemChina made a multi-billion takeover approach for BG Group, which has just been bought by Royal Dutch Shell. Here is the link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-chemchina-bg-m-a-exclusive-idUSKCN0XG1UE..
I hadn't been on Tip TV for a while and was starting to wonder whether Moose, the owner of the channel, had got fed up with me.
Last week, though, I got the call inviting me on the show today, so here is the link:
http://www.tiptv.co.uk/finance/ma-outlook-exxon-mobil-abandoning-bp-takeover-deal/..
Kleinman, of Sky News, today published a rather intriguing story about a £6 billion takeover bid for J Sainsbury that has just been "abandoned". The thing is, the market never knew about this takeover bid in the first place...
The Chinese travel conglomerate really does have a voracious appetite for deals involving any European travel-related companies.
Earlier this week, HNA unveiled a $1.5 billion takeover of Switzerland's airline catering company Gate Gourmet. That deal comes after HNA purchased baggage handler Swissport last year for £2.3 billion.
The times they are a changin in the high-flying world of British economics journalism...
This is a bit of a wrinkle on a wrinkle but since little old Betaville broke the Argus Media Group sale story late last year I thought it might be worth airing the wrinkle here...
There was an interesting in line in the Daily Mail stock market report today about Wolseley merging with Travis Perkins. In case you haven's seen it, here is the link:..
The Telegraph interview with the head of the Serious Fraud Office caught my eye as I was re-reading recent business coverage. Here is the link:..
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