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.
Monday, 21 June 2021, 11:06 am
Commentators, journalists and analysts were out in force this morning adding their two pennies worth to the weekend's most exciting corporate news event, airing all sorts of (potentially wild) speculation about rival offerors for WM Morrison.
For excample, George MacDonald, executive editor of Retail Week, turned up on Dominic O'Connell's BBC Radio 4 slot this morning to talk up the chance of Amazon mounting a counter bid...
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Saturday, 19 June 2021, 3:59 pm
Hat tip to Mark, the "Kleinmanator", Kleinman, who has just landed a corking scoop about Clayton Dubilier & Rice approaching WM Morrison about a £5 billion buy-out. Below is a link to Kleinman's story:
https://news.sky.com/story/buyout-giant-cd-r-weighs-5bn-takeover-of-supermarket-chain-morrisons-12336342..
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Betaville IntelligenceSaturday, 19 June 2021, 8:56 am
Well that didn't take long - rivals hacks at Dealreporter claim private equity firms EQT and Stonepeak could revive their plan to buy Royal KPN, the Dutch telecoms giant.
According to the report (which cites "sources familiar with the situation"), "the consortium is still thought to be interested in the company and could revisit the opportunity" and "could explore another attempt at acquiring the business at the end of this year or in 2022"...
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Friday, 18 June 2021, 8:47 am
Jim "Armo" Armitage, the Evening Standard City editor, has dug out a top corporate scoop this morning.
The soon-to-be new The Sunday Times business editor is a proper grafter and today that hard work appears to have paid off with a tale about wealth manager True Potential appointing Credit Suisse to work on a SPAC merger deal. Below is a link to Jim's piece:..
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersThursday, 17 June 2021, 7:55 am
Wednesday, 16 June 2021, 4:06 pm
Mark, "the Kleinmanator", Kleinman of Sky News has just popped up with a decent story about a Toscafund whinge.
The fund, run by Martin "the Rottweiler" Hughes, has gone on the record (which is quite rare) to complain about Ramsay Health Care's 240p a share bid for private hospital operator Spire Healthcare. Below are the quotes from Toscafund and a link to Mark's tale:..
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersTuesday, 15 June 2021, 3:04 pm
Monday, 14 June 2021, 8:18 am
Do you remember the take private of suit retailer Moss Bros just as last year's stock market collapse kicked off in earnest?
The owners of Crew Clothing offered just over £22 million for Moss Bros in mid March 2020 but then tried to wriggle out of the deal once stock markets around the world plunged over 30pc...
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Betaville IntelligenceFriday, 11 June 2021, 6:05 pm
Cerner Corporation, the US-listed healthcare information services provider, remains in focus amid a fresh round of takeover speculation.
People following the situation said they have heard fresh rumours a potential deal with a mystery suitor is moving forward.
It is, though, still not clear which company is in talks with Cerner.
Previously people following the situation suggested it could be Microsoft, Alphabet, Oracle or IBM...
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Friday, 11 June 2021, 11:14 am
If you were wondering how Patrick Drahi's Altice managed to suddenly turn up with a 12.1pc stake in BT Group then you should read Alistair Osborne's column in today's business section of The Times.
According to Alistair's piece, Drahi's advisers at Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas bought most of the stock on their own accounts in small batches via derivatives and then handed it over to Drahi's sub-3pc holding. Below is the link to the full column:..
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Thursday, 10 June 2021, 3:59 pm
Hat tip to David Hatcher, intrepid property hack and founder of real estate site React News.
Hatcher has just dug out a cracking scoop about the the iconic department store Selfridges being put up for sale by the Weston family. Below is a link to Hatcher's piece if you want to read the whole story:
https://reactnews.com/article/4bn-selfridges-for-sale/..
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Thursday, 10 June 2021, 7:25 am
Patrick Drahi, the French telecoms billionaire, has finally revealed his hand regarding his interest in BT Group.
This morning Altice, the telecoms company controlled by Drahi, has revealed it has bought a 12.1pc in the London-listed telecoms giant.
Now, for loyal followers of my work news of Drahi's interest may not come as too much of a surprise...
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersWednesday, 9 June 2021, 2:27 pm
Betaville IntelligenceTuesday, 8 June 2021, 4:44 pm
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Betaville IntelligenceMonday, 7 June 2021, 6:53 pm
The Times is now reporting that Hosking Partners, run by veteran stock market investor Jeremy Hosking, is now demanding a "radical" shake up within the board of Foxtons. Below is the link:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/investor-calls-for-shake-up-at-foxtons-rm0ghcv29..
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Monday, 7 June 2021, 1:19 pm
Betaville notes Boatman Capital has finally released its latest short selling report via yesterday's The Sunday Telegraph.
The target of Boatman's ire is coal miner Thungela Resources, which is being demerged from London-listed mining giant Anglo American.
Boatman reckons Thungela may be worthless. Below is a link to the research outfit's report explaining why it has placed a zero price target on the company:..
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Saturday, 5 June 2021, 5:51 pm
The private equity buy outs are just getting bigger and bigger.
Hacks at the venerable Wall Street Journal have just broken a story about a Blackstone-led consortium closing in on a $30 billion acquisition of US-based Medline Industries Inc, which manufactures and distributes equipment and supplies used in hospitals, surgery centers, acute-care and other medical facilities in over 125 countries. Below is the link to the WSJ scoop:..
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Betaville IntelligenceWednesday, 2 June 2021, 10:07 pm
Apparently scribblers at Jefferies said they "see little in yesterday's noise" [in reference's to Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert] around IMI but would be surprised if private equity, which is "awash with cash", weren't looking at the engineer.
What sort of a ridiculous comment is that.....
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersTuesday, 1 June 2021, 3:09 pm
Monday, 31 May 2021, 10:54 am
There was one story that caught my eye in the British Sunday newspapers' business sections yesterday - The Sunday Times excellent scoop on Foxtons, the London-listed estate agency that it is reviled by home buyers and investors...
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[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].