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.
This morning a consortium of investors led by BlackRock have announced they plan to buy Calisen, the London-listed smart meter company, for £1.4 billion or 261p a share. Below is the link:
The City of London is currently captivated by a France-listed €1.7bn Luxembourg-based outsourcer.
Why?
Well yesterday the company's shares collapsed by almost 25pc during intraday trading and this piece (click on the link below) by rivals over FT Alphaville has a decent explainer of what's been going on.
https://www.ft.com/content/02e82970-f5ae-4aab-a60a-1aed9faa53a1..
Simon English was on point again yesterday with his piece in the Evening Standard about taxing "rich" people.
Below is a link to his piece if you missed it:
https://www.standard.co.uk/business/a-oneoff-tax-on-the-rich-won-t-work-b229923.html..
Pluralsight Inc, the US-listed online technology training company, may be edging closer to a sale of the business.
People following the situation said Pluralsight had recently cancelled their attedance at several investor conferences being held by leading investment banks, leading to a fresh round of speculation the business could be in talks with a potential purchaser...
The Evening Standard has been hit particularly hard by the lockdowns in London but thankfully the new (ish) editor has kept hold of one of Betaville's favourite City writers: Simon English.
English regularly churns out insightful, witty commentary pieces on City shenanigans and did so again today. Below is a link to Simon's piece, which is certainly worth a read if a have a few minutes...
Midwich Group, the UK-listed audio visual distributor, is in talks to purchase a gulf-based company for more than £30 million.
People following the situation said Midwich is said to be in advanced talks to buy NMK Electronics, a Dubai-based distributor of audio equipment, such as speakers, laser projectors and cables.
Midwich is thought to prepared to pay between £30 million and £35 million for NMK Electronics, said people following the situation...
Rumours about a merger of the two Swiss investment banking giants - Credit Suisse and UBS - rumble on thanks to, er, the banks' top executives.
You might recall in late Summer a little known 'Inside Paradeplatz' revealed UBS and Credit Suisse held taks about a mega merger. The story was then swiftly followed by the venerable Financial Times...
Sierra Wireless, the Canada-listed 'internet of things' designer, is rumoured to be eyeing a merger with Thales's IoT division ahead of a potential deal with London-listed Telit Communications.
People following the situation have heard speculation Thales, the France-listed conglomerate, is working with advisers from Deutsche Bank on a potential combination of its IoT division, which it inherited following its EURO 4.8 billion takeover of Gemalto in 2019...
It would appear the chaps over at Dbay are really cranking up the negotiations over Telit Communications, the Aim-listed 'internet of things' company.
Dbay, run by feared activist investor Colin Kingsnorth, has just put out a statement saying it is considering (note the "considering") submitting an offer of £1.90 a share for Telit and that U-blox's all paper £2.50 a share offer isn't worth the paper it is being issued with.
Below is the link:..
Dialog Semiconductor, the Frankfurt-listed chip designer, is still rumoured to be "in play" despite the announcement of another deal in the industry earlier this week.
On Monday, it emerged Munich-based Siltronic, a Germany-listed silicon wafer designer, had received a EURO 3.75 billion offer from Taiwan's Global Wafers, leading to speculation the rumours around Dialog Semiconductor may have been confused...
FTSE Russell has finally confirmed that Bill "Baby Face" Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings will replace Homeserve in the London's blue chip index.
Admittedly this was foreshadowed in some of today's British newspaper market reports...
It really is dealmania out there: Salesforce has just agreed to buy Slack for $27.7 billion.
Below is the link to a report about the announcement:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/technology/salesforce-slack-deal.html
So that's two blockbuster megadeals (if you include S&P's $44 billion purchase of IHS Markit) this week and it's only Tuesday.....
STMicroelectronics NV, the Swiss domiciled semiconductor maker, is in focus amid vague speculation about the possibility of the company being involved in a major corporate transaction.
Some people following the situation have heard rumours STMicroelectronics might be a takeover target.
However, it's not clear which company might be interested in combining with STMicroelectronics, said people following the situation...
Hacks over at the venerable Wall Street Jounal appear to have landed the biggest deal scoop of the year by revealing S&P Global is in talks to buy IHS Markit for $44 billion.
Below is the link to Cara Lombardo and Liz Hoffman:..
Harriet Dennys, a colleague two times over, had a decent line in this weekend's Mail on Sunday that would appear to speak to the theme aired on Betaville recently that some the big London-listed companies that raised money over the summer will once again be tapping up shareholders for fresh funds.
Below is a link to Harriet's piece, which would seem to suggest that easyJet might look to raise cash by issuing new shares or a convertible bond...
Dialog Semiconductor, the Frankfurt-listed chip designer, is at the centre of takeover speculation.
People following the situation have heard rumours Dialog Semiconductor may have attracted a suitor and could have already received an approach.
However, the identity of the suitor is unknown, said people following the situation.
In 2014 Dialog Semiconductor held merger talks with AMS, an Austrian chip designer...
Will Lindy Cameron the new chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre take an interest in the goings on at key supplier Post Quantum?
Over the summer Post Quantum hit the headlines whenit beat technology giants IBM and Microsoft to the finals of a global competition to find an to the answer to of quantum computing, a type of uber cyber security. Click on the link below to read The Times piece in case you don't recall:..
The idea of Sir Martin heading stateside for his next deal might have been a curve ball.
In case you don't recall the excellent Alex Lawson noted in the Mail on Sunday's Stockwatch column a few weeks ago that adman dealmaker was over in the US eyeing up deals ahead of Jo Biden becoming president. Below is a link to the Sunday round up piece I wrote on the topic a few weeks ago:..
You don't see this very often in the world of mergers and acquisitions: somebody from a trade union outing a deal ON THE RECORD to the press.
Well, that just happened over the Channel in France after Agence France Presse quoted Sebastian Crozier, president of the CFE-CGC Orange organisation as saying "the Atos buyout proposal will be supported by the employee directors and employee shareholders at the next Orange Board of Directors on December 2"...
[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].