A cheeky website about deals, dealmakers and anything else I find interesting. Edited by Ben Harrington. If you have a tip or want to discuss a story please feel free to email Betaville at ben@betaville.co.uk.
Apologies for the delayed Sunday review delay Betavillers - I have been rather busy.
Anyway, I was pleased to see Sunday journalism is still alive, well and kicking in the UK as all of the business sections were packed with some excellent scoops, investigative features and interviews...
Betaville has been feeling a bit sore this week after a couple of mega deals were announced in the last fortnight that this website failed to get the scoop on.
One of those missed stories was the $18.7 billion takeover of Dr Pepper Snapple by Keurig Green Mountain, which is backed by the billionaire Reimann family...
It's a bull market, so the multi million/billion pound takeover deals and equity fundraisings are coming thick and fast.
The latest in the pipeline is Bluejay Mining, whose main asset is an ilmenite project in Greenland. What's ilmenite? Apparently, it's the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, fabrics, plastics, paper and sunscreen...
Oh look - I see Diversified Oil and Gas has just confirmed Betaville's Intelligence piece from earlier today an the impending placing and takeover deals. I have pasted the announcement below in case you missed it:
Diversified Oil and Gas, the London-listed American gas producer, is working on a multi-million pound equity fundraising for the purchase of two major assets in the US.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, Diversified Oil and Gas is looking raise between $150 and $200 million to buy gas assets in West Virginia.
However, it's not clear which assets Diversified Oil and Gas, which focusses on the Appalachian Basin, is trying to purchase...
How about that for timing.
The headline of the splash in The Times business section blares out: shares set for sharp falls, says Goldman. Below is a link to the piece, which is predicated on Goldman Sachs's prediction that a major stock market correction is looming...
Ping! An email arrives in Betaville's inbox from Canaccord Genuity with a press release promoting the fact that it has appointed Shannon Soqui as head of "US Cannabis Investment Banking".
That shocked a few old school City types!..
Betaville realises that Simon English over at the Evening Standard often gets a plug on these pixels but it really is for a good reason. Indeed, English's latest column is laugh out loud funny and thoroughly insightful. Do give it a read when you have a spare moment. I have pasted the link below:..
It struck Betaville while looking over the the coverage of last week's parliamentary debate on Royal Bank of Scotland's GRG unit that the mainstream press didn't pick up on Kate Green's comments about RBS making £400 million of profit from just one area of misconduct by the controversial unit...
Oh look: Petro Matad, the oil explorer with assets in Mongolia, has effectively confirmed Betaville's scoopette published on Thursday about the fundraising although it would appear the company has cut the size of the placing.
I have pasted the link below in case you missed it:..
Petro Matad, an oil explorer with assets in Mongolia, is said to be close to announcing a £22 million equity fundraising.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, brokers at Stifel are said to be leading the equity fundriasing for Petro Matad.
Some of the equity fundraising is being done via a placing at a 30pc discount to the recent share price, said these sources familiar with matter...
Zenith Energy, the Canadian oil and gas consolidation vehicle, may soon see a placing.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, brokers are attempting to place between £500,000 and £1 million at around a 15pc discount to the company's current share price.
However, it's not clear what the cash from the placing will be used for...
No self respecting investment banker will ever admit to having too many clients. Take, JP Morgan, for example. The powerful investment bank is a corporate broker and adviser to GKN and Melrose and was almost always cited on all their deal press releases. I have pasted Melrose's £2.2 billion acquisition of American ventilitation-to-security group Nortek below and GKN's equity fundraising of about £200 million for the acquisition of Fokker Technologies in 2015:..
[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].