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.
Have you ever heard of S&T AG?
Well, Betaville's hadn't until I got wind that some of the fericious stockmarket bears have started pawing away at the 'internet of things' solutions company.
Being a bear is rather a brave thing to do in this market as it never wants to go down.
But the bears are creeping out of the woods for certain names, especially for those companies based in Germany!..
Little old Betaville would like to clarify a point of confusion that arose last week as the two big beasts of the American financial media industry got stuck into the McAfee $10 billion take private scoop.
Betaville understands Bloomberg "broke" the story at 7:23pm (UK time) and then the Wall Street Journal came out with its piece just under 15 minutes later at 7:35pm.
So, it was in fact Bloomie that won that tussle...
Last week it was Shell; this week it's Compagnie Financiere Richemont.
According to the Financial Times and Miss Tweed, a specialist fashion website, Dan Loeb's Third Point has bought a 1.2pc stake in the owner of Cartier alongside another activist hedgie. Below is the link to Miss Tweed's scoop:
The scoops are coming in thick and fast today!
Now former boss and colleague Mark, "the Kleinmanator", Kleinman of Sky News is reporting that Abrdn (the combination of Aberdeen and Standard Life) is in talks to buy online retail stockbroker Interactive Investor for £1.5 billion.
The talks are advanced, so you could seen an RNS this Monday, says Kleiny. Below is a link to his scoop:..
Chums and former colleagues at The Times have churned out a quality Saturday section this weekend.
The hamper splash of the business section is a pick up of a sensational interview with Matt Moulding, the controversial boss of beleguered THG, which has seen its share price collapse over 50pc over the last month amid concerns about the company and an "attack" by "short sellers" (who they?)...
It seems Bloomberg is also claiming the "scoop" about McAfee "go private" story.
The thing is in journalism you can only really claim the "scoop" or "exclusive" if you publish first otherwise you are just following up somebody else's story i.e. coming in second, third, fourth etc.
Anyway, I will leave the two big beasts of the US financial media to squable over who got the "scoop" here.....
The venerable Wall Street Journal has dug out a Friday afternoon corker of a deal scoop.
Hacks at the WSJ just revealed McAfee, the US-listed computer and security software company, is on the verge of being sold to Advent International, which is well known on UK shores for gobbling up defence companies such as Cobham and Ultra Electronics. Below is a link to the WSJ tale:..
Well, so this time it only took arch rivals at Bloomberg 24 hours to follow up little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert about Mantle Ridge and Dollar Tree, Inc. Below is the link to the news agency's "scoop"...
There is talk in the market Izabella Kaminska, the editor of FT Alphaville (no relation to little old Betaville) is leaving the top quality Financial Times markets blog.
One might describe that titbit as WELL-DONE in Betaville parlance but do remember things can change at the last minute...
Arch rivals at Bloomberg have dug this morning's deal scoop with a tale about Carlyle weighing a takeover bid for ailing Metro Bank.
The confirmation came pretty quick. Below is a link the statement from Metro Bank, which has had its fair share of troubles recently and is now only trading at a fraction of what it used to be worth...
An activist investor is rumoured to be eyeing Dollar Tree, Inc with a view to enouraging a potential sale of the retail business.
People following the situation have heard speculation Mantle Ridge, which is led by former investment banker Paul Hilal, is one of the activists targeting Dollar Tree, the US-listed discount retailer...
Another day, another follow up from arch rivals at Bloomberg.
This time Bloomie hacks have picked up on little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert series about Qiagen, the Frankfurt and Nasdaq-listed molecular testing firm, from last week.
Now Bloomberg is reporting that French diagnositics firm BioMeurieux is in talks with Qiagen about a mutli-billion EURO merger. Below is the link:..
Apologies for the tardy review Betavillers; I was tied up with a few things yesterday, including having a row with a rather rude man from GlaxoSmithKline.
Anyway, I spotted a couple of interesting snippets in the Sunday newspaper business sections yesterday...
Quelle surprise: La Banque Poste today said it plans to buy CNP Assurance, the France-listed insurance group, for EURO 15 billion, thereby confirming little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert from earlier in the week about the a potential bid from shareholders. Below is the link to the press release:..
FTSE 100-listed GlaxoSmithKline, Switzerland-based Roche and Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical are all rumoured to be the large pharmaceutical companies involved in the strategic review being carried by Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, the US-listed rare disease drug developer.
People following the situation have heard speculation Goldman Sachs is advising Aurinia on the strategic review...
Direct Line's shares are up 10pc at pixel time.
To be clear I have no idea why and this website has NOT published an intelligence alert on the company today.
However, one assumes if there is anything going on from an M&A perspective then some sort of announcement is imminent.
One to keep an eye on.....
I see Les Echos, the respected French newspaper, has decided to follow up little old Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert from earlier in the week and is now reporting La Banque Poste, the largest shareholder in CNP Assurances, is looking to take the insurer private. 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].