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 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.
Monday, 30 January 2023, 11:21 am
I see arch rivals at Bloomberg have published another follow to little old Betaville's UNCOOKED alert about Brazilian-listed Natura & Co from late November last year.
Bloomie hacks are report that LVMH, the luxury goods giant controlled by billionaire Bernard Arnault, and France-listed beauty group L'Oreal are also both participating in the Aesop sale process. Below is a link to the Bloomie "scoop":..
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Monday, 30 January 2023, 7:28 am
BP's low valuation makes it a takeover target.
Well, that's according to fund manager M&G - which is a shareholder in BP - via the front page of The Sunday Times business section...
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Saturday, 28 January 2023, 9:24 am
Hat tip to Oliver Gill and Chris Price, business hacks at The Daily Telegraph, little old Betaville's former employer.
Gill and Price have actually done some hard work and dug out some cracking on the record quotes from old Colin Graves, the straight-talking founder of budget convenence store company Costcutter, about Bestway's REAL intenstions for J Sainsbury...
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersFriday, 27 January 2023, 5:20 pm
Friday, 27 January 2023, 3:04 pm
So, Viceroy's latest target was Medical Properties Trust, the US-listed healthcare property company. Below is the link to the short seller's note:
https://viceroyresearch.org/2023/01/26/medical-properties-distrust/..
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Friday, 27 January 2023, 8:28 am
Wholesaler Bestway has this morning announced it has purchased a 3.45pc stake in J Sainsbury.
Bestway is led by Sir Anwar Pervez, a former bus conductor and driver. He is now a billionaire, worth around £3.1 billion, according to The Sunday Times rich list...
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersThursday, 26 January 2023, 3:06 pm
Thursday, 26 January 2023, 8:51 am
First Hindenburg; now Viceroy.
Yesterday, renonwed short selling outfit Hindenburg Research released some fairly punchy allegations about billionaire Gautam Adani and the company he controls - India-listed Adani Group, the mining to energy conglomerate. Adani Group's shares subsequently collapsed with the company's market value losing around $10 billion. Below is a link to a more detailed report from The Guardian containing the allegations:..
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Wednesday, 25 January 2023, 4:52 pm
It's been a while since Apollo has been touted to as a potential acquirer in a large leveraged buy-out but hacks at the venerable Financial Times have done well to discover the firm is looking at purchasing Millicom, the Latin American telecoms operator.
According to the FT, Apollo has teamed up with Marcelo Claure, the former SoftBank executive, to explore a bid for the company that could value it around $10 billion, including debt...
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Wednesday, 25 January 2023, 7:32 am
So, Everton Football Club isn't "for sale". Well, that is what sports hacks at The Times are reporting this morning.
According to the newspaper Farhard Moshiri, the Iranian businessman and large shareholder in Everton, was denying the possibility of a sale last night after The Guardian published its scoop. Below is a link to piece in today's The Times:..
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Tuesday, 24 January 2023, 11:09 pm
Late last year little old Betaville was ruminating on the fact that two top flight Premier League football clubs - Liverpool and Manchester United - were both officially put on the market at the time...
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Betaville IntelligenceMonday, 23 January 2023, 11:32 am
It's not often you see a Sunday takeover scoop in the French press so hat tip to the Journal du Dimanche for coming up with a decent line about the never ending Atos takeover situation.
According to the Journal du Dimanche, Astek has expressed an interest in purchasing the Evidian cyber security and big data unit, which is soon to be spun off by Atos with its own listing...
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Saturday, 21 January 2023, 9:17 am
Perhaps OKDiario's scoop about a EURO 35 billion takeover of Cellnex was a load of codswallop after all!
According to JP Morgan scribbler Akhil Dattani, Cellnex has denied it has been approached by American Tower or its advisers.
Indeed, it would appear Dattani has done some actual journalism as tucked away within the analyst's latest note there is a line that says: "Cellnex refutes having been approached by AMT or a mandated bank"...
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Friday, 20 January 2023, 3:50 pm
Have you ever heard of OKDiario?
Well, little old Betaville had never heard of the tiltle until it revealed today that American Tower Corporation, the US-listed telecoms infrastructure giant, and Canada's infrastructure investor Brookfield had appointed Morgan Stanley to examine a multi-billion EURO takeover bid for Cellnex, the Spanish telecoms infrastructure owner...
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Betaville IntelligenceThursday, 19 January 2023, 7:44 pm
I see arch rivals at Bloomberg have finally decided to follow up little old Betaville's Part 9 Uncooked Alert about the Belgian insurer that this website published last month.
Hacks at Bloomie report that BE Group, a vehicle backed some ex Lazard, UBS and Credit Suisse bankers, has made a fresh approach for Ageas and is trying to get the financing together for a deal. Below is a link to the Bloomie tale:..
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Exclusive to Betaville Intelligence subscribersThursday, 19 January 2023, 3:03 pm
Wednesday, 18 January 2023, 7:38 pm
This morning Vodafone disclosed that Etisalat now owns 12pc of the FTSE 100-listed telecoms giant.
Well, it wasn't exactly Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat carrying out the Vodafone share buying but Emirates Investment Authority vehicles, such as Atlas 2022 Holdings, connected to Etisalat. Below is the link to the announcement:..
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Betaville IntelligenceTuesday, 17 January 2023, 3:20 pm
So, Emerson Electric has finally broken cover after months (see part 1 and 2) of takeover rumours around National Instruments Corporation, the US-listed producer of automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software,.
The American industrial giant has has come clean about how it has offered $53 in cash (or around $7.6 billion) for National Instruments Corporation last November...
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Betaville IntelligenceTuesday, 17 January 2023, 1:04 pm
By Adam McNestrie
AssetCo, the London-listed wealth management consolidator, and Preservation Capital have shelved the £300 million plus sale of Parmenion despite receiving multiple offers from a variety of suitors, including private equity firm Abry Partners.
Last year September Sky News revealed in September that Parmenion - a £10bn assets under management wealth manager - was working with advisers to seek a buyer or new backers...
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Betaville IntelligenceFriday, 13 January 2023, 4:03 pm
National Instruments Corporation has just announced it is carrying out a "strategic review" after receiving a variety of takeover approaches.
Now, the fact that National Instruments Corporation has received interest may not come as much of a surprise to loyal Betaville Intelligence readers...
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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].