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.
I'm sure most (UK-based) readers have had enough of the general election by now but just thought I would see whether anybody knows which banker threw the "double mansion tax party" last night?..
Dominic Walsh, veteran leisure industries reporter over at The Times, has got the market all aflutter after tweeting earlier this afternoon:..
It sounds like FTSE 100 insurer Legal & General is on the verge of selling its private equity arm and stakes in several well-known retail outfits, such as outdoor clothing retailer Snow + Rock and bar chain Tiger Tiger...
It would appear things tend to all go wrong at once for taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland...
It never ceases to amaze me what you can learn from hanging out in hotel lobbies...
A friendly analyst has got in touch with his view on what the likely combinations are from the next round of consolidation in the hotel sector. I will list them below - to be clear, this is just his speculation...
1. Accor combining with either Marriott International or Whitbread
2. InterContinential Hotels merging with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide
3. Marriott International combining with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide..
Looking over last week's coverage of Deutsche Bank's $2.5 billion fine for fixing the Libor rate it struck me little has been made of fact that interest rate manipulation was being discussed at a British Bankers Association board meeting all the way back in 2008...
So, it would appear little old Betaville made the right call running the story about Starwood Hotels, Senator and InterContinental Hotels a couple of weeks ago.
Have a look at this:..
I'm glad to see that Kier Group has finally announced the £265 million takeover of Mouchel. Readers might recall that I broke the story late last year on Tip TV and Betaville - here is a link http://betaville123.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/banks-edge-closer-to-400-million.html - that Kier Group was in talks to buy Mouchel for a decent chunk of change...
Zak invited back onto Tip TV today. Here is a link to today's session:
Ben Marlow's comment column in today's The Daily Telegraph caught my eye this morning. Not only is it a well written piece of prose but it also contains a story I myself had been chasing for the last month or so...
Some of my lending sources have got back in touch regarding the Stemcor story I wrote earlier this week.
Word is this "mystery US trade buyer" (see my previous post) has offered more for Stemcor's UK steel trading operations than what Apollo, the US vulture fund, is proposing as part of a debt-for-equity swap.
Don't, though, get too excited. Apparently, the value breaks in the company's debt, which is estimated to be more than $1.3 billion...
There are plenty of great market tales knocking about in the mainstream press today...
I picked up an interesting nugget on the Stemcor situation scurrying around in the undergrowth this afternoon...
It's been a while since I was invited on Tip TV. Today Moose - aka Nick Batsford - very kindly asked me to come back onto the show. Here is a link to today's clip:
http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/update-on-the-latest-in-the-ma-market/..
There were plenty of interesting business stories in the weekend newspapers this weekend but the ones that caught my eye were the tales involving Quindell, the controversial AIM-listed business...
Here is an interesting speculative piece from Bloomberg on Starwood Hotels:..
Wow - Daniel Stewart has just released a statement on the Regulatory News Service this evening telling the market Rob Terry, the founder and former chairman of Quindell, has asked the Financial Conduct Authority for permission to increase his stake in the stockbroker to above 10pc...
Ping - an email arrives with the headline: "in the land of the internet virgins"...
[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].