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.
RARE ALERT: Mercia Asset Management said to ... - Part 3
I see Mercia Asset Management has confirmed last week's RARE Alert about Woodford Patient Capital Trust selling out of the firm. Below is the link in case you missed it:
RARE ALERT: Future plc said to.....
A Cobham/Meggitt observation... - Part 2
If you have a spare moment over the weekend and are interested in the Cobham / Advent bid situation then do click on the link below for a follow up piece in the Mail on Sunday's business section by yours truly and Jamie "Nimmers" Nimmo...
BREAKING: Just Eat in £9 billion merger talks with Takeaway.com, Sky News reports
Today is quickly turning into a "Merger Saturday"!
The Kleinmanator of Sky News has just popped up with a corking jackanory about Just Eat merging with Takeaway.com. Below is the link:
https://news.sky.com/story/just-eat-delivers-9bn-merger-with-takeaway-com-11771635..
BREAKING: LSE in $40 billion merger talks to merger with Blackstone backed Refinitiv, according to the FT - Part 2
So, the Financial Times deals team nailed it.
Below is a link to the confirmation, which shows this mega merger is being structured with the LSE buying Refinitiv for $27 billion.
https://www.lseg.com/resources/media-centre/press-releases/statement-regarding-press-speculation..
BREAKING: LSE in $40 billion merger talks to merger with Blackstone backed Refinitiv, according to the FT
Wow!
The M&A chaps at the venerable Financial Times are on fire at the moment with another humdinger of a scoop about the LSE merging with Refinitiv as part of a $40 billion combination.
Below is the link:
https://www.ft.com/content/ddf40314-afc6-11e9-8030-530adfa879c2..
RARE ALERT: Mercia Asset Management said to ... - Part 2
I do wish Betaville's friends at Bloomberg would accurately aggregate content from my website.
To be clear, people claiming to be familiar with matter said Woodford has sold Woodford Patient Capital Trust's 5pc stake in Mercia Asset Management for around 30p but NOT the whole of the 24pc shareholding as suggested by the aggregated version of my story on Bloomberg...
RARE ALERT: Mercia Asset Management said to ...
Hardly a week goes by now without Neil "Woody" Woodford dumping a load of illiquid stock into the London market.
Indeed, the latest exit is from Mercia Asset Management, a "specialist asset manager focused on high-growth SMEs"...
A Cobham/Meggitt observation...
Hat tip the FT deals team hacks who stayed laid at work last night to dig out the Advent Cobham bid scoop ahead of this morning's announcement. Below is a link to the deal announcement:
The young hack, the Swiss bank and the Twitter attack
Betaville applauds the Evening Standard's excellent City Spy column yesterday sticking up for a young Finanical Times hack that just a couple of days ago was viciously attacked on Twitter by UBS for "agenda journalism"...
UNCOOKED ALERT: Imerys said to.....
Sunday review on a Monday: Ted Baker, BT Group and Plus500
Betaville's chums on the Mail on Sunday's business section had a decent haul yesterday.
Indeed, Neil "Neily" Craven's scoop about Ray Kelvin looking at a take private of Ted Baker appears to be the most talked about story in the London market this morning...
RARE ALERT: Crystal Amber Fund said to ... - Part 2
Betaville takes a lot of stick from punters about my jackanories, so below is a link that effectively confirms this week's RARE Alert about Woodford Investment Management placing its near 17pc stake in wily old Richard Bernstein's Crystal Amber Fund...
REVEALED: Estera on the block for £700 million; into the second round - sources - Part 2
Oh look: Inflexion Private Equity has just bought Estera, the firm linked to the 'Paradise Papers' leak, from Bridgepoint. See the press release below:
BigDish brewing...
Betaville has been advised by a few men in dark glasses to "keep an eye on" Aim-listed BigDish, the online restaurant bookings platform.
Why? Well, to be clear the upcoming story has nothing to do with M&A, deals or takeovers.
According to Betaville's moles, there are some rather "interesting characters" that are on the verge of joining the company.
Watching.....
RARE ALERT: Crystal Amber Fund said to ...
Last week it was Morses Club; this week Woodford Investment Management is selling out of Crystal Amber Fund, the activist investor run by wily old Richard Bernstein.
According to people claiming to be familiar with the matter, Neil Woodford's firm just dumped some or all of its 17pc stake in Crystal Amber Fund at around 190p.
That doesn't sound too good given the shares were trading at 223p in May, closed this evening at 196p and have a Net Asset Value of 249p...
UNCOOKED ALERT: Royal KPN NV said to ... - Part 2..
RARE ALERT: Plus500 said to... - Part 2
It's happened again: Betaville publises a piece behind the paywall and before you know it the article is mis-represented/aggregated by the wires and twisted into something completely false by random (or maybe not?) punters on Twitter.
In case you are wondering what I am complaining about I am referring to yesterday's RARE ALERT about Plus500. Below is the link, which I have now made publicly available so people can see what I REALLY published...
RARE ALERT: Plus500 said to...
Plus500 is rumoured to be eyeing a tie-up with US rival GAIN Capital but people familiar with the situation tried to pour cold water on the prospect of an imminent deal.
Industry sources claiming to be familiar with the matter said they had heard speculation the London-listed company is weighing a bid for GAIN Capital although it wasn't clear whether Plus500 has made a formal approach for the company...
[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].