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. 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.
I see the top brass at Estee Lauder yesterday sent an internal "memo" to employees to quash the rather detailed takeover speculation aired in recent days, including by yours truly in The Sunday Times this/last weekend. Unsurprisingly, some financial media organisations ate it up in the usual manner of a pissing contest...
There is a third person chasing Thomas Ryan in the British courts to recover money invested in one the mystery property developer's (hairbrained?) schemes...
So, it would appear this Hassan Gozal chap is a rather savvy punter after all!
The construction tycoon with ties to Turkey, Kurdistan and Azerbaijan has quietly been building a stake in Genel Energy via his vehicle Daax Corp, an Azeri conglomerate. Here is a link to Betaville's previous piece published in July:
Looking over today's coverage of the Provident Financial fiasco on the front pages of the UK business sections I was reminded of a piece written by my esteemed former boss - Richard, the "Fletch", Fletcher - in The Daily Telegraph six years ago. ..
Hat tip to my old Telegraph colleague Harry Wilson, now City editor at The Times, who today landed a rather good scoop about Eric Daniels, chief executive of Lloyds during the bailout, suing his old employer for hundreds of thousands of pounds of unpaid bonuses.
Below is a link to Harry's story, which was splashed across the front page of the The Times business section:..
Credit Suisse has failed to get a Norwegian tycoon's claim thrown out of the High Court court and could be heading for a messy trial with plenty of juicy disclosure.
Court moles have got in touch with Betaville to inform this website that on July 11, 2017 the Honourable Justice Teare dismissed Credit Suisse's attempt to "strike out" with summary judgement Brova's multi-million claim over the Hertsmere House fiasco...
It never ceases to amaze Betaville why bankers, lawyers and accountants read their uber confidential documents on the tube (or subway for Betaville's US/global readers).
But Betaville isn't complaining as occasionally this website/business journalist has picked up the odd jackanory from sneaking a peak while squashed in the tube...
This is a bit late in the day but Betaville thought it might be worthwhile flagging up another highly amusing and insightful column from one my favourite business commentators: Alistair Osborne, now of The Times.
If you have been following what's being going on at the scandal ridden Telit then Alistair's piece from yesterday's section is well worth a read. Below is the link:..
Rockwell Collins is said to be working with a second investment banking adviser amid speculation a mystery company is weighing a counter offer for the avionics business.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, Rockwell Collins recently asked Citigroup to work alongside defence advisors JP Morgan following an approach from United Technology Corporation...
And below is a link to the confirmation of yesteday's scooplet.
It's still pretty quiet (ish) in the British dealmaking market and that's to be expected because it's August.
So, here is a snippet on a little micro cap equity fundraising to keep market watchers happy.
Sources claiming to be familiar with the matter say Inspirit Energy, which is developing the "new generation of heat elecrtical power boilers", is poised to tap up investors for about £300,000...
For some reason Betaville still has its doubters. Indeed, often when Betaville publishes scoops and scoopettes this website's inbox is flooded with all sorts of disparaging notes expressing doubts about the veracity of my tales. ..
Crispin Odey just can't keep out of the headlines at the moment.
If it's not the terrible performance of his flagship Odey European fund then it's his controversial views on his own investments that keep grabbing attenion of City scribblers (or should I say "typers" these days?)...
The mystery company circling Calgon Carbon Corporation, a US-based company that manufactures products that remove contaminants from liquids and gases, is said to be Japanese.
Earler this week Betaville reported the potential acquirer of Calgon Carbon Corporation could be from China but sources claiming to be familiar with the matter said the potential buyer they are aware of is actually from Japan...
The Wall Street Journal reports that Crispin's letter to investors show his flagship long/short European Fund is down 10pc for July. Below is the link the WSJ piece:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hedge-fund-managers-bearish-bets-backfire-again-1502111864..
Novelis's approach for rival Constellium could value the Dutch aluminium company at up to $1.3 billion.
According to sources claiming to be familiar with the matter, Indian metals giant Hindalco, which controls Novelis, could be willing to settle a legal dispute with Constellium.
This would effectively add an extra $2 a share to Novelis's original informal $10 a share approach for Constellium, said the sources claiming to be familiar with the matter...
[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].