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.
Little old Betaville has said this before and I will say it again: sometimes it takes a few days for the confirmations to come through and sometimes it takes a few months.
With Telenet, the Belgian telecoms company, it took a few months for John Malone's Liberty Global to finally make its mind up and announce its offer for Telenet...
If you thought this is the type of bear market where deals get scrapped, then think again.
Dutch IT company Ordina has just announced a EURO 520 million - or EURO 5.75 - sale to French digital services company Sopra Steria. The move comes after Ordina confirmed last week it was in talks with potential buyers.
Below are the full details of the deal...
What a day to be back onThe Blind Spot's Markets Live!
Anyway, if you missed the session this morning you can read the transcript, which I have pasted below:
https://the-blindspot.com/spot-markets-live-transcript-17-03-23-2/..
Loyal readers may have noticed that little old Betaville teamed up with chums from The Sunday Times this weekend to figure out which activist fund had secretly been building a shareholding in THG, the London-listed online retailer that has seen its share price battered since listing a couple of years ago...
The formal details of UBS's takeunder of Credit Suisse are below:
https://www.ubs.com/global/en/media/display-page-ndp/en-20230319-tree.html
Hat tip to hacks at the Financial Times who led the reporting of the merger talks over the weekend with a series of scoops.
Will this be enough to stem the fear ripping through the banking sector in Europe and the US?..
So, BlackRock denied yesterday it is looking at Credit Suisse following the report from the Financial Times.
As usual the denial is mealy mouthed because up until the venerable FT revealed BlackRock's interest the giant investment house was looking at some or all of Credit Suisse (BlackRock was "informally" working with bankers from Perella Weinberg to advise on the transaction, according to the Financial Times)...
Hacks at the FT are on a hot streak.
The reporting team have just revealed another twist in the Credit Suisse takeover tale - the mammorth money manager BlackRock, led by Larry Fink, is working a rival takeover bid for the Swiss bank. Below is the link to the mega scoop:
https://www.ft.com/content/6319e205-d688-4521-b048-8d69a2c40847..
At least Bill Ackman was kind enough to keep his mouth shout long enough for the Financial Times to publish their mega scoop about UBS holding talks about merger with Credit Suisse.
Hat tip to the reporting team at the venerable Financial Times for landing that scoop. Below is a link to it:
https://www.ft.com/content/17892f24-4ca0-417f-9093-289b019a0852..
Not content with earning millions, if not billions, from the world of hedge fund management Bill Ackman is turning his hand to deals reporting.
According to the Pershing Square founder, Bank of America is on the verge of buying Signature Bank, the failed lender that moved into crypto currencies.
Ackman just tweeted:..
Speculation is mounting Saras S.p.A, the Italy-listed energy company, is a takeover target.
People following the situation have heard rumours Saras has attracted takeover interest.
One person following the situation had heard the mystery party circling Saras is based in the Gulf region.
Saras's largest shareholders are the Moratti family...
Another day, another set of takeover deals.
Yesterday, Dutch IT and digital services company Ordina announced it had received several non-binding takeover proposals. Below is the link to that announcement:
The statement from Tremor International in response to Mark "Kleinmanator" Kleinman's latest story was a bit odd.
On the one hand the company appeared to be denying the thrust of his story about a sale process but then Tremor also appeared to be confirming aspects of Kleiny's scoop, such as the fact that the business has been working with Goldman Sachs. Below is the link:..
Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman of Sky News has another new line on Tremor International, the London-listed advertising technology company...
As little old Betaville said earlier this morning, the deals keep on coming despite the market tumoil triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
The latest takeover hitting the tape is the purchase of US-listed chemicals company Univar Solutions for $36.15 a share, around $8.1 billion including debt, by private equity firm Apollo...
The deals are still flowing despite the market tumoil driven by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
Overnight it emerged that Symphony Technology Group had agreed to purchase Momentive Global, owner of online survey brand SurveryMonkey, for $9.46 a share or around $1.5 billion.
Now, little old Betaville got a little whiff of this take-private transaction so I was a bit miffed to see it announced when I woke up this morning...
It was good to see French retailers Casino and Teract formally announce their plans to merge.
In case you don't recall, little old Betaville broke the story about the merger talks back in late January. Below is the link:
https://www.www.betaville.co.uk/betaville-intelligence/26p6sn9r/
And on Thursday last week both companies released a detailed formal merger announcement:..
A second activist investor is rumoured to be circling THG, the London-listed e-commerce company, with a view to building a stake in the business and pushing for significant strategic change.
People following the situation have heard talk another activist has been studying the possibility of acquiring a significant shareholding in THG, which runs the Lookfantastic, Glossybox, Zavvi and Coggles websites and also beauty brands including ESPA and Illamasqua...
There are plenty of gloomy dealmakers out there as deal volumes are generally down compared with the previous two years.
Still, that doesn't there is nothing going on.
FTSE 100-listed Informa, for example, today annouced the $940 million purchase of rival Tarsus from super secretive private equity firm Charterhouse. Below is the link to the press release:..
Some curious comments have emerged from down under about the Macquarie - M&G takeover situation.
"There are so many speculated transactions. So we wait and talk about them once they are actually done."
That's what the boss of Macquarie, Shemara Wikramanayake, said at the Australian Financial Review Business Summit in Sydney yesterday...
Infrastruturre Wireless Italiane, the Italy-listed wireless network infrastructure operator, is at the centre of takeover rumours.
People following the situation have suggested Infrastruturre Wireless Italiane has drawn bid interest from a mystery suitor.
However, the identity of the bidder circling Infrastruturre Wireless Italiane is unclear, said these people...
[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].