There is some big stakebuilding news breaking this morning.
Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates-based telecoms operator, has just revealed it has bought a near 10pc stake in FTSE 100-listed giant Vodafone for $4.4 billion.
The swoop makes Etisalat Vodafone's largest shareholder but the company says it won't make a bid for the company (usual caveats apply one assumes)...
Rivals at Bloomberg just landed a stonking scoop about a company that is very much at the centre of Betaville's attention at the moment: Vodafone.
According to the news agency, Swedish activist Cevian has taken a shareholding in the FTSE 100 telecoms giant and held talks with the company.
And avid followers of the activist fund know that Cevian has form in picking investments that eventually get bid for, such as blue chip insurer RSA...
For some reason breaking big deal stories on a Saturday morning appears to be all the rage at the moment.
Last week it was The Sunday Times with its Unilever / GlaxoSmithKline mega scoop and this morning it is Bloomberg's turn with story about Vodafone looking at purcahsing Three UK from CK Hutchinson. Below is the link to Bloomie's tale:..
French publication BFM is today reporting that FTSE 100-listed telecoms giant Vodafone has held merger talks with France's Orange.
Betaville's French is a bit rusty but according to BFM Vodafone held talks with Orange about a combination from the summer of 2020 to the beginning of 2021. Below is the link:..
There were quite a few articles that caught Betaville's in the Sunday newspaper business sections this week.
Indeed, one of the most interesting pieces was an on the record, set piece interview by Jim "Armo" Armitage, The Sunday Times business editor, with Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone...
It took a while but scribblers at some of the City of London's top brokers have finally figured out there is a merger & acquisition boom taking place in Britain.
So now every stock market broker is punting a list of takeover tips, with the chaps and chapettes at Canaccord Genuity the latest bunch to draw up a list of bid targets...
Loyal readers might have noticed an interview piece with Crispin Odey written by yours truly in this weekend's Mail on Sunday. Well, below is a link in case you missed it:
I see rivals at Bloomberg yesterday afternoon attempted to disseminate Betaville's UNCOOKED Alert to its subscribers.
According to the Bloomberg report about yesterday's UNCOOKED Alert, Betaville Intelligence reported (I know this starting to sound really weird) that "an unidentified US company is weighing an offer for the company [Vodafone]"...