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.
And in another bizarre twist this evening Bonnier's Aquaverse PTE vehicle has just announced it has cut its shareholding in Aim-listed podcaster Audioboom Group even further.
According to the latest regulatory filing, Bonnier's Aquaverse has cut its shareholding in Audioboom from 11.57pc to 4.32pc. Below is the link to the announcement:..
There has been a curious twist in the Audioboom story this afternoon.
Robert Bonnier's wife, Nashida Bonnier, has just increased her shareholding in Audioboom to 5.42pc. Below is the link to the announcement, which was made after the market closed today:
There was a question (and answer) missing from this weekend's recent coverage of Open Text's aquisition of Micro Focus, the London-listed IT company.
If Open Text, the Canadian software company, is willing to pay a 100pc premium for Micro Focus International surely US private equity firm Thoma Bravo should be willing to pay the same for cybersecurity outfit Darktrace?..
Sometimes little old Betaville's UNCOOKED, RARE and WELL-DONE alerts are confirmed immediately; and sometimes it takes a few weeks for the dealmakers to announce the transaction.
Take, for example, Micro Focus International. Back in February this year little old Betaville published an UNCOOKED Alert suggesting the company had attracted takeover interest. Below is the link:..
Farfetch, the US-listed luxury fashion plaftorm, finally announced a deal although it wasn't quite in the form little old Betaville had originally heard.
Effectively, Compagnie Societe Richemont - the Switzerland-listed luxury goods company - is intially folding online fashion retailer Yoox Net-a-Porter into Farfetch and getting an 11pc stake in the online group. Richemont is also writing down EURO 2.7 billion as part of the transaction...
Hacks at Bloomberg have finally decided to pull the trigger on the Schneider Electric takeover bid for Aveva tale that has been ciculating for the last few days.
Little old Betaville was chasing the same story, so is in a bit of a grump after being pipped by arch rivals at the global financial media giant...
It would appear Johnson & Johnson was also circling US-listed Global Blood Therapeutics, which two weeks ago agreed a deal to sell itself to pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for $5.4 billion.
Well, that's according to arch rivals at Bloomberg. Below is a link to the Bloomie story that came out overnight:..
There was some more talk of equity fundraisings among the airlines today.
Word is brokers at HSBC were speculating about the possilbity of International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) and Wizz Air asking equity investors for fresh capital in the coming weeks or months.
Apparently, the smooth talkers on the broking side of the bank said:..
Amazon could be about to carry out its third major takeover deal of the summer.
Well, that's according to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, who both revealed last night that Amazon is in the running to buy Signify Health, the US-lited healthcare technology platform...
The Sunday Telegraph had an interesting line on the Darktrace takeover tale (first revealed by little old Betaville).
Hacks at Betaville's former employers managed to get some quotes from Mike Lynch's spokperson, who appears to be linking the US's move to prosecute the technology entrepreneur for fraud to an American private equity bid for Darktrace. Below is a link to the piece that has the full quotes:..
Suddenly Boohoo's purchase of a 7.1pc stake in Revolution Beauty doesn't look so smart.
The online beauty retailer's shares have just collapsed almost 40pc after the company said: " it does not expect to be able to release audited results for FY22 by 31 August 2022."..
The Wall Street Journal has revealed Cineworld, the London-listed cinema giant, is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy.
According to the WSJ, Cineworld - which also owns the Regal cinema chain - has engaged advisors from law firm Kirkland and Ellis and a restructuring specialists Alix Partners to work on the bankruptcy. Below is a link to the WSJ scoop:..
Has the new private equity owner of Chelsea Football Club just bought a large stake in Blackline Inc, the US-listed financial software company?
Well, the reason Betaville posits the question is that a few days Clearlake Capital Group disclosed it now owns 9.1pc of Blackline Inc...
Controversial London-listed fast fashion retailer Boohoo has just revealed it has bought a 7.1pc shareholding in Revolution Beauty, the online make up retailer. Below is a link to this morning's annoucement:
There was plenty of follow up coverage in today's papers of little old Betaville's Darktrace scoop but the piece that really stood out is the one written by Russell Hotten, a former colleague from time on The Daily Telegraph's city desk...
Darktrace has confirmed little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert.
The company last night said it has been approached by Thoma Bravo, the American private equity firm that specialises in technology buy-out deals. Below is the link to yesterday's announcement:..
Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman of Sky News has revealed this evening that Ted Baker's board is set to recommend a cut price £200 million offer for the retail brand from the American owner of Reebok.
US-listed Authentic Brands, according to Kleiny's piece, is going to pay 110p a share for Ted Baker and the deal could be announced tomorrow. Below is the link to Kleiny's scoop:..
[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].