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.
Ben Marlow of The Daily Telegraph, little old Betaville's former employer, has written a lengthy opinion piece on Vodafone.
Let me sum it up for you: if Vodafone doesn't do something quickly to arrest its flagging share price (down almost 50pc over the last five years) it could well easily become a takeover target for one of the "wealthy American telecom giants"...
Arch rivals at the financial media behemoth Bloomberg have finally jumped onto the story about a deal cooking at DXC Technology, the US listed technology company.
According to hacks at Bloomie, "DXC Technology has been approached by at least one private equity firm" and the company is now talking to investment bankers with a view to appointing one to deal with the inbound bid interest...
French telecoms tycoon Xavier Niel, founder of Iliad, has built a 2.5pc stake in FTSE 100-listed Vodafone. Below is a link to this morning's statement.
GB Group's shares have perked up almost 4pc this morning.
If you are wondering why then look no further than an article published in the Mail on Sunday over the weekend.
Intrepid hackettes Amy-Jo Crowley and Francesca Washtell revealed that several private equtiy firms are circling GB Group, the London-listed indentity intelligence company, after little old Betaville's orginal UNCOOKED Alert...
The Sun doesn't appear in these pixels often but now that Ashley Armstrong, former retail hack on The Times business section, has started editing the business section perhaps little old Betaville should start paying more attention to it...
The stakebuilding in Boohoo by Ken Griffin, one of America's biggest hedge fund tycoons, continues despite a collapsing share price.
This morning Citadel, Griffin's firm announced it had increased its stake in the London-listed online retailer Boohoo to almost 5.4pc from 4.7pc. Below is the link to the announcement:..
Adobe Inc has confirmed it is buying design application Figma for $20 billion, proving once again there is a strong appetite for dealmaking, especially in the US technology market.
Now earlier little old Betaville reported that it was Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal that were claiming the "scoop"...
Adobe Inc, the US-listed software company, is on the verge of paying a whopping $20 billion for privately-owned Figma, a design application.
Well that's according to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal who both seem to be claiming the "scoop" simultaneously. Funny that!
Anyway, below is the link to the Bloomie piece:..
Tucked away in today's Daily Mail business splash about Welsh chip designer Newport Wafer Fab is a line about how Jacob Rees-Mogg may "call in" Schneider Electric's takeover of FTSE 100-listed technology company Aveva.
That's because the French industrial giant has a huge joint venture with Chinese firm Delixi Group. Below is a link to the Daily Mail report in case you missed it:..
Mark, "the Kleinmanator", Kleinman of Sky News had a line last night on Schneider Electric's attempt to buy out the remainder of FTSE 100-listed Aveva that it doesn't own...
Scribblers at Peel Hunt said it is "no surprise" that GB Group is being looked at as a potential takeover by American private firm GTCR.
Well, if it wasn't such a surprise why didn't the broker point that GB Group, the London-listed identity verification company, could be a bid target before little old Betaville broke the news?..
Perhaps opening a brand new office in London isn't indicative of Thoma Bravo's enthusiasm to follow through with the Darktrace takeover after all.
Word is Thoma Bravo is getting cold feet about the deal after the buy-out firm and Darktrace sturggled to agree on price for the takeover.
Onto the next one...?..
Swiss title Inside Paradeplatz has got the scoop this morning about the latest twist in the Temenos takeover tale.
According to intrepid Swiss journo Luke Haessig, a sale of the Swiss banking software company is now "round the corner" and the buyer is an "overseas private equity firm".
Haessig's report also claims the Temenos take private deal should be done by the end of October at the latest ahead of the company's third quater results...
Chums on the Daily Mail picked an intriguing tale about American private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which is currently in the process of talks to buy Darktrace, the FTSE 250-listed cybersecurity company.
According to Mark "Shappers" Shapland, Thoma Bravo is opening up an office for Europe in London. Below is a link to Shappers's piece:..
It would appear little old Betaville and Dom Walsh of The Times business section were barking up the right tree when it came to GB Group, the London-listed identity verification and fraud prevention company.
Late last night Chicago-based GTCR, which has appointed Jefferies to work on the bid, confirmed it is considering making an offer for GB Group. Below is the link the statement and also GB Group's response:..
Veteran business hack Dom Walsh of The Times has picked up on the latest Smith and Nephew takeover tale, too.
Dom - one of the best British business journalists Betaville has never had the pleasure of working with - published a piece in The Times today about how the medical devices company could be a takeover target for an American group, such as Stryker Corporation, or even a private equity firm...
Hat tip to James Warrington of The Sunday Telegraph.
Warrington appears to have dug out a clean scoop about housebuilder Vistry Group weighing a merger with Countryside Properties, which had previously received a takeover offer from its largest shareholder American firm In-Cap.
This morning the tale was confirmed, with Vistry and Countryside announcing a £1.25 billion cash and shares offer from the former for the latter. Below is the link:..
[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].