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 see SAB Miller's shares are only down about 0.5pc despite today's announcement about the 3G-backed $40 billion Heinz takeover of Kraft.
Perhaps the market isn't dismissing the idea of an SAB Miller deal following today's news after all. I should have more on this situation later on the week, so keep an eye on Betaville...
I imagine SAB Miller's shares will be hit hard this morning as the Wall Street Journal revealed overnight that 3G, the fund managed by a group of Brazilian billionaires, is in talks to buy Kraft for more than $40 billion.
The newspaper claimed 3G is pursuing Kraft through Heinz, which it bought a couple of years ago, and is likely to merge both companies.
Here is a link the WSJ story:..
The Daily Telegraph's Ashley Armstrong has just written an interesting piece on 888 Holdings, the online gaming company that recently saw takeover talks with William Hill fall apart.
The report quotes the company's executive chairman as saying that 888's main founding shareholders would be supportive of an all-share merger with another gaming company.
Here is a link to the piece:..
I hope your having a good weekend Betavillers.
I have been getting a lot of questions (and a fair amount of abuse, too) in recent days about the Slater & Gordon/Quindell story I have been covering in the last few weeks.
For readers that don't recall, the £640 million sale of Quindell's legal services division to Australian law firm Slater & Gordon had been scheduled to be announced tomorrow...
It's Budget day (here in the UK), so here is a piece of RARE that is completely unconnected to one of the busiest days in financial/political journalism.
I hear Shire's next deal is likely to be "transformational".
Since Flemming Ornskov took the helm of pharmaceutical giant he has carried out quite a few major deals, such as this year's $5.2 billion acquisition of NPS or the $4.2 billion purchase of ViroPharma in 2013...
The Times business section had a cracking front page today, with Gideon Spanier landing a juicy scoop about how The Mirror Group, publisher of The Daily Mirror, is trying to buy The Daily Express and The Daily Star from Richard Desmond...
I have received a fair few questions over the weekend about my piece on Quindell in The Sunday Times. So, I thought I would try to clear a couple of things up in my Tip TV slot this morning. If your interested in my explanation, click on the link below:
http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/mergers-and-acquisitions-16-03-15/..
It's still not clear who the "individuals" are behind the BHS deal despite the fact that several top Sunday newspaper business reporters had a good stab at trying to unveil their identities...
Looking over this morning's coverage of the BHS deal it's still not clear (to me, at least) who has actually bought the retail chain from Sir Philip Green.
Aside from the frontmen, reports suggest that Retail Acquisitions (the purchaser of BHS) is "backed by a group of eight to 10 individuals in different businesses, including oil and gas".
I'm guessing we will find out who some of these "individuals" are this Sunday.....
Mark Kleinman over at Sky News appears to be on a bit of hot streak.
Kleinman, a former colleague/boss during my time at The Daily Telegraph / The Sunday Telegraph, has landed several big exclusives this week, including the £1 billion takeover bid for Domino Printing.
He is also got today's scoop about Spain's Sabadell making a £1.7 billion bid for TSB, the listed challenger bank. ..
It looks like Bwin Party Digital Entertainment is still talking to potential buyers despite some news outlets claiming a few weeks ago negotiations had collapsed and the deal was off...
Remember how the soaring Swiss franc skittled almost everyone in the City?..
It's a Monday, so I was invited back on Tip TV. Here is a link to today's clip:
It's a shame Parky is leaving journalism (or at least he was the last time I checked) as I will miss columns like this:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/tradesecrets/article4376465.ece..
I have been getting a lot of calls this morning about Weir Group. Yes, Weir Group - the company that went berserk on me last year after I outed its interest in buying/merging with Finnish rival Metso...
Ben Wright, one of the senior Telegraph business bods, has written a rather insightful and amusing comment piece on dealmaking entitled "when it comes to picking prices for buying and selling, we're all mugs". Here is the link:..
I think I talked a bit about 3G and Warren Buffett on Monday on Tip TV, and how the sage of Omaha's comments about working with the Brazilian billionaires again had triggered another round of SAB Miller takeover speculation...
[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].