When "old" news becomes new news...
Wednesday, 8 October 2014, 1:26 am
Hat tip to the Bloomberg M&A reporting team for smoking out Glencore's approach to Rio Tinto about a $160 billion merger...
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.
Whimper...or not - part 2
Wednesday, 8 October 2014, 12:16 am
I see Hewlett-Packard yesterday indicated that it is considering further dealmaking after confirming its demerger plans...
Pub gossip - part 5
Tuesday, 7 October 2014, 2:07 am
Scribblers round at Goldman Sachs last Friday published a particularly bearish note on Marston's, the FTSE 250 pub company, and reiterated the shares are a "conviction sell". Ouch. ..
Pizzas and burgers
Monday, 6 October 2014, 11:48 am
Old Russell Chambers got a mention in Dominic Walsh's diary column in The Times last Friday...
Lord Mayor setback for Sir Paul
Friday, 3 October 2014, 5:15 am
Interesting to see that former Kleinwort Benson banker Alan Yarrow was earlier this week elected to be the new Lord Mayor of London...
Top Deutsche Bank dealmaker predicts another "leg to this upcycle"
Thursday, 2 October 2014, 12:23 am
I was expecting dealmaking the UK to roar back into life after Summer. But it's unusually quiet in the UK M&A market at the moment, with only just a couple of mid-market deals knocking around, such as Greene King's £700m bid for Spirit...
Microchip Technology appoints...nobody, apparently
Monday, 29 September 2014, 6:51 pm
I have spent the last few weeks trying to find out which investment bank has been advising Microchip Technology on its approach for CSR, the London-listed chipmaker. So far, I haven't turned up with anything...
Supermarket sweep
Thursday, 25 September 2014, 9:32 pm
Mike Ashley's multi-million pound punt on Tesco has certainly caused a stir in the London market this morning...
German humour
Thursday, 25 September 2014, 8:55 pm
Alistair Osborne's business comment column in The Times today is well worth read. Osborne is an acerbic writer and professional wind up merchant who I used to work with at The Daily Telegraph. His comment on Rocket Internet's IPO is particularly amusing. Here is a link to it:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/alistairosborne/article4217149.ece..
Pub gossip - part 4
Thursday, 25 September 2014, 5:59 am
It's a bit late in the day but just a quick note to congratulate Bryce Elder, the stock market reporter over at the Financial Times, on yesterday's scoop about Greene King's £700m takeover approach for rival Spirit. Here is a link to Bryce's piece: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cb3478c6-4338-11e4-be3f-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3EAr0HkhD..
Hikma Pharmaceuticals eyes $1 billion purchase of CorePharma
Wednesday, 24 September 2014, 2:05 am
I realise most of the dealmaking community is currently focused on the risk that some large pharmaceutical deals may collapse. But I have stumbled across a potential pharmaceutical deal that is unlikely to be affected by the US government's attempt to clamp down on corporate "tax inversions"...
It's not just Parky...
Monday, 22 September 2014, 6:14 pm
Gary Parkinson has written another cracking 'Trade Secrets' column in The Times this morning and here is a link to it: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/tradesecrets/article4213584.ece..
Performing - part 2
Friday, 19 September 2014, 5:56 pm
It looks like that rather large block trade in Perform shares from earlier in the week was nothing more than an institutional seller exiting to a bunch of risk arbitrageurs (hedge funds that bet on takeover bids).
In case you forgot, here is a link to the piece I did earlier in the week:
http://betaville123.blogspot.co.il/2014/09/performing.html..
Whimper...or not
Wednesday, 17 September 2014, 4:19 pm
Well, it looks like my foray into reporting on US cloud computing deals has ended with a bit of whimper...
Performing
Wednesday, 17 September 2014, 4:57 am
A rather large line of Perform stock - over 40 million shares - changed hands in almost one go at the close of the London market this evening. Investec is thought to have done a lot of the business (lucky them)...
CenturyLink said to have lined up financing for Rackspace; Hewlett-Packard also rumoured to be interested
Tuesday, 16 September 2014, 4:42 am
Here's an interesting snippet about a fairly chunky US technology deal. I hear from excellent sources CenturyLink, a landline phone service provider, has tapped up some US banks for a $6 billion financing package so that it can purchase cloud-computing services company Rackspace Hosting...
Sunday review
Monday, 15 September 2014, 5:15 am
Most of today's Sunday newspaper business sections are focused on financial implications and risks of Scotland breaking away from the Union...
The Financial Times and J Sainsbury
Friday, 12 September 2014, 6:23 pm
Bryce Elder, the stock market reporter over at the Financial Times, has this morning touched upon quite an interesting theory whistling around the London market...
The auction of the auctioneer
Thursday, 11 September 2014, 7:34 am
It's a bit quiet in the world of public company M&A in the London market so I thought I would write a quick post on the auctioneer Bonhams following my piece in the Mail on Sunday last month...
Severn Trent bidders come together again...
Tuesday, 9 September 2014, 10:12 pm
But don't get too excited - it's not with a view to buying Severn Trent for £5 billion. Well, not at the moment, at least...
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