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.
Farewell then Graham Ruddick, a fine young business journalist and chum of Betaville's from our time working together at The Daily Telegraph.
The deputy business editor of The Times is leaving the newspaper to set up his own thing at Substack, the start up that provides hacks, writers and anybody else a platform to set up their own publishable stream of consciousness...
There was an odd headline story floating about on Bloomberg last week about easyJet, the London-listed budget airline that last September received a merger approach from Wizz Air.
Johan Lundgren, the boss of easyJet, was quoted on the record as saying easyJet "doesn't need an acquisition or partner".
But who said easyJet does need an acquisition or partner?..
Apologies for the tardy update on the Chelsea FC situation Betavillers; I have been a bit busy digging out stories on some rather larger public companies recently.
Anyway, it would appear, according to reports, that investment bankers at Raine - which is advising on the sale for Roman Abramovich/the British Government - have created a "second round" of bidding with four serious bidding groups. I will list them below:..
One of the oldest City of London stockbrokers is set to fall into the hands of a North American predator.
Brewin Dolphin has agreed a deal to sell itself to Royal Bank of Canada's wealth management division.
RBC is paying 515p a share for Brewin Dolphin or around £1.6 billion...
This morning National Grid announced it is selling a 60pc stake in its transmission and metering business to a consortium led by Australian infrastructure house Macquarie for £9.6 billion including debt.
One of the advisory firms named on the bottom of the press release that worked on the deal for National Grid was Robey Warshaw, the advisory firm that last year recruited George Osborne, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, as a partner...
Oh look - I see Canadian infrastructure giant Brookfield has confirmed it is considering a takeover offer for London-listed Homeserve.
Off course, this shouldn't been too surprising for subscribers to Betaville Intelligence as this website published a piece earlier on today pointing out that the company may soon be on the receiving end of an approach. Below are the relevant links:..
There is talk in the market of another equity fundraising looming at Carnival, the FTSE 100-listed cruise operator.
Well, that's because scribblers at Morgan Stanley just issued a research piece noting the possibility of another share sale.
"We see rising risk of equity issuance," wrote analysts Jamie Rollo, Thomas Allen and Adrija Chakraborty in a note to clients seen by Betaville...
The European-based investor group seeking to persuade the board of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals to carry out a strategic review has appointed a US lawyer to manage an action group for other investors looking to back its activist campaign.
The move comes as the investment consortium, led by the Switzerland-based MKT Tactical Fund, recently wrote a second letter to the chairman of Aurinia, George Milne Junior...
Charles Allen - the former boss of ITV and now Lord Allen of Kensington - is set to become THG's new (non-executive) chairman. Below is a link to this morning's announcement confirming the appointment:
Warren Buffett is splashing out over $11 billion on US-listed property and casualty insurer Alleghany Corporation.
Buffett's firm Berkshire Hathaway is paying $848.02 per in cash for Alleghany and follows a period in which the billionaire old timer has complained about the lack of acquisition opportunities.
Anyway, I have pasted the core details of the press release below:..
Mark Kleinman of Sky News appears to have gone into hyperdrive, digging out blockbuster scoops on an almost hourly basis.
His latest scoop is about how Hedin Group has submitted 28p a share (roughly £400 million) offer for London-listed Pendragon, the car dealer. Below is a link to Mark's story:..
It didn't take long for Sycamore Partners to confirm its interest in buying Ted Baker.
The private equity firm has just announced it is considering making an offer for the London-listed retailer. Below is the link:
It would appear The Kleinmanator of Sky News wasn't the only City hack onto the Ted Baker bid rumour.
Last week, Bryce, "The Flying Scotsman", Elder of the venerable Financial Times got into the story in his excellent City Insider column, pointing out that there was talk circulating the London market of a £300 million plus takeover offer. Below is a link to Bryce's piece:..
Mark, "The Kleinmanator", Kleinman of Sky News has landed a decent scoop this evening about American private equity firm Sycamore Partners weighing a takeover bid for Ted Baker, the London-listed retailer.
According to Kleiny, Sycamore has hired Numis to advise on the possible takeover, so one assumes the firm's interest is relatively advanced and a statement should be appear soon. Below is a link:..
Oaktree Capital is the newest participant in the £3 billion Chelsea FC sale process.
According to the Financial Times, the $166 billion asset manager - led by Howard Marks - "is preparing an offer for Chelsea" ahead of this Friday's bid deadline. Below is a link to the FT piece:
https://www.ft.com/content/c031e021-9b76-45e6-be61-62ddec48c36a..
Another activist is trying to persuade London-listed estate agency Foxtons to sell itself.
According to a report in the Financial Times, Montreal-based Converium Capital has built up a stake of 2pc in Foxtons and is arguing the company should find a buyer after failing to take advantage of a red hot London property market. Below is a link to the piece in the FT:..
[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].