UNCOOKED ALERT: Darktrace said to .....
Monday, 15 August 2022, 4:15 pm
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.
UNCOOKED ALERT: RS Group said to ... - Part 2
Saturday, 13 August 2022, 7:50 am
Rob "Bob" Lea of The Times business section has finally caught onto the RS Group bid rumour.
Lea writes in today's market report in The Times that RS Group is telling its advisers to prepare its defences ahead of "unwelcome tanks being parked on RS Group's lawns"...
Tags: RS Group
UNCOOKED ALERT: Mediclinic International said to ... - Part 6
Friday, 12 August 2022, 1:56 pm
Bumpitrage alert!
Investors have begun to grumble about Remgro's £3.7 billion takeover offer for London-listed Medclinic International.
Word has reached Betaville that some Mediclinic shareholders believe Remgro's 504p a share bid is too "cheap".
Unsurprisingly, some of these investors want a higher offer, ideally around 525p a share for Mediclinic...
Tags: Mediclinic International, Remgro
Repligen said to have rejected $14 billion takeover offer from Catalent, reports StreetInsider
Thursday, 11 August 2022, 9:17 pm
Betaville notes rivals at StreetInsider have picked up on the Repligen Corporation takeover rumour that has been doing the rounds in the last few days.
According to StreetInsider, Catalent - a US-listed biopharmaceutical company - has been circling Repligen, which makes materials used in the manufacture of biological drugs...
UNCOOKED ALERT: Temenos said to ... - Part 3..
Wednesday, 10 August 2022, 3:10 pm
Deals, Deals, Deals ... in a bear market - Part 25
Tuesday, 9 August 2022, 8:42 am
The August deal mania sweeping the American market has finally reached Britain and Australia.
WSP, the Canadian engineering consulting group, has struck a deal to buy London-listed RPS Group for 206p in cash or £591.1 million.
That is a 76pc premium to yesterday's price! Below is a link to the this morning's announcement:..
Deals, Deals, Deals ... in a bear market - Part 24
Monday, 8 August 2022, 6:43 pm
The US deal announcements are now arriving thick and fast.
Aside from the takeovers mentioned in this morning's note, Pfizer has announced it is buying Global Blood Therapeutics for $5.4 billion (confirming the Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal scoops from last week). Below is the link to the deal report from the WSJ:..
Deals, Deals, Deals ... in a bear market - Part 23
Monday, 8 August 2022, 8:22 am
Dealmaking in the US continues unabated and now it is spilling over to continental Europe despite the fact that most Europeans take the whole of August off for holidays...
UNCOOKED ALERT: RS Group said to .....
Friday, 5 August 2022, 1:43 pm
UNCOOKED ALERT: Mediclinic International said to ... - Part 5
Thursday, 4 August 2022, 8:34 am
The takeover of Mediclinic International was a story Betaville broke back in June and now the final details of the deal have been announced.
The board of Mediclinic is recommending a 504p a share, or £3.7 billion, offer from Remgro, which controlled by the South Afircan billionaire Johann Rupert, and a vehicle backed by MSC, the shipping group backed by the Aponte family.
Anyway, below is a link to this morning's press release in case you missed it:..
Tags: Mediclinic International
Global Blood Therapeutics said to draw takeover interest, reveals Bloomberg
Thursday, 4 August 2022, 8:08 am
Global Blood Therapeutics, a US-listed biopharmaceutical company, is a business that has been on Betaville's radar for quite a few years amid vague rumours.
Now, though, arch rivals at Bloomberg are reporting that the company - which makes drugs for sickle cell disease - is working with advisers amid takeover interest from larger rivals...
Intelsat in talks to merge with SES, reveals the Financial Times
Thursday, 4 August 2022, 7:57 am
Rivals at the Financial Times landed a cracking scoop overnight about US-based satellite operator Intelsat holding merger talks with SES, a Luxembourg-based rival.
The tale comes hot on the heals of OneWeb's merger with France's Eutelsat.
Clearly, none of these satellite operators wants to be the last company standing on its own when the consolidation round ends.
Anyway, below is a link to the FT scoop:..
Deals, Deals, Deals ... in a bear market - Part 22
Wednesday, 3 August 2022, 12:26 pm
To reinforce the point Betaville was making earlier today - Thoma Bravo has just struck a deal to buy US-listed Ping Identity Holding Corporation for an enterprise value of $2.8 billion.
That's a whopping 60pc premium!
Below is a link to this morning's press release:..
Tags: PING, Thoma Bravo
Bears maul Victoria PLC
Wednesday, 3 August 2022, 10:07 am
Ever heard of Iceberg Research?
Well, neither had little old Betaville until it just published a short selling note on Victoria PLC, the London-listed carpets and flooring group.
Anyway, Iceberg is rather scathing about the Victoria, which has carried out multiple acquisitions over the years. Below is a link to the Iceberg note:..
Tags: Victoria, Iceberg Research
Deals, Deals, Deals ... in a bear market - Part 21
Wednesday, 3 August 2022, 9:25 am
It's that time of the year where folk in the City of London tend to put their feet up as colleagues drift away on summer holidays in the Meditteranean.
And this summer bankers, lawyers and private equity practitioners are all doubly keen to get away for as long as possible after the last two years...
Markets live with Betaville featuring: Audioboom (again), Ferguson and Blackline Inc
Monday, 1 August 2022, 5:46 pm
I'm not sure Betaville has ever had a US takeover story confirmed ten minutes after publishing it but that's exactly what happened during today's Markets Live session hosted by my chum Izabella Kaminska, formerly the editor of FT Alphaville, on her https://the-blindspot.com website.
Anyway, I have pasted the link below to today's transcript in case you missed it:..
UNCOOKED ALERT: Shift4 Payments Inc said to ... - Part 2
Monday, 1 August 2022, 1:30 pm
Oh look - I see US-listed payments processing company EVO Payments has finally agreed a deal to sell itself to Global Payments Inc for around $34.00 a share...
Tags: EVO Payments, Shift4 Payments Inc
NatWest weighing up £2 billion plus takeover offer for Quilter, reveals the Mail on Sunday
Sunday, 31 July 2022, 10:22 am
The Mail on Sunday's hardworking business section dug out this weekend's biggest deal scoop.
According to Amy-Jo Crowley's report, NatWest - the bank that was formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland - is in the early stages weighing a takeover bid for FTSE 250-listed Quilter. Below is the link:..
Equity issues...
Friday, 29 July 2022, 3:12 pm
Ping! A note arrives from Quest, the cashflow analysis unit of broker Cannacord Genuity.
The writer is James Congdon, the analyst who has consistently predicted cash calls by Aston Martin, the luxury car marque. (see - https://www.betaville.co.uk/news/bears-paw-astin-martin-lagonda-part-2/)..
The spinners, the hacks and the podcasts...
Thursday, 28 July 2022, 6:09 pm
Little old Betaville has noticed there appear to be a growing number of super senior City hacks getting involved with podcasts set up by super senior flacks (also known as financial public relations executives).
This trend appears to have been kicked off by Jonathan Ford, former Financial Times Lex and leader writer, and Neil Collins, former City editor of The Daily Telegraph...
[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].