Lipin in the limelight

I'm not in the habit of giving Bloomberg much praise as the journalists that work there are pretty good at praising themselves.

However, I have to admit I rather enjoyed this - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-21/deal-of-the-week-controlling-the-m-a-story - from the mighty news outlet's M&A team.

Krafty 3G / Coincidence - part 3

Finally, SAB Miller announces a £70 billion plus recommended offer from Anheuser-Busch Inbev and confirms what I have been banging on about since the beginning of the year: that 2015 is the year ABI and 3G plan to bid for the FTSE 100 beer company. And in case you don't recall, here are links to some of my "exclusive" articles on the topic:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2953714/Burger-King-Brazilians-mull-audacious-75bn-bid-Foster-s-owner-SABMiller.html

Smokescreen

Here is a random thought for the day.

Whilst ruminating on the fact that SAB Miller and Anheuser-Busch Inbev asked for a second extension to the Takeover Panel's put-up or shut up deadline, I started to wonder: what was that Veja story in June about 3G weighing a multibillion takeover bid for Diageo all about?

Top of the market? - part 2

I was hoping to revisit the "top of the market" theme once things calmed down this weekend but it would appear Lina Saigol, the Companies Editor at the Financial Times, has beaten me to the punch (this often happened to me when I was a cub M&A reporter at the The Daily Telegraph in the mid-noughties).

Her column today in the Financial Times echoes what I have been thinking all week: the last time Anheuser-Busch Inbev lot and their backers at 3G pulled the trigger on a mega deal it was pretty much the top of the last bull market.

Krafty 3G - part ?

Dominic Walsh, veteran leisure industries reporter over at The Times, has got the market all aflutter after tweeting earlier this afternoon:

Dominic Walsh ‏@walshdominic  2h2 hours ago

SABMiller shares up about 1.3 per cent amid - yes, you've guessed it - rumours of a £50-a-share bid from ABI, @WarrenBuffett & 3G Capital

Sunday review - Krafty 3G, BHS and the French poacher turned gamekeeper

There are some excellent investigative features knocking around in today's business sections.

I particularly enjoyed Oliver Shah's piece in The Sunday Times on some of the murky characters behind the purchase of BHS from Sir Philip Green.

Krafty 3G - part 3

Interesting piece from Bloomberg on today's news about the 3G/Warren Buffet-backed $40 billion Heinz takeover of Kraft. Here is a link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-25/heinz-s-46-billion-kraft-bid-is-a-megadeal-without-a-megabank

Krafty 3G - part 2

I see SAB Miller's shares are only down about 0.5pc despite today's announcement about the 3G-backed $40 billion Heinz takeover of Kraft.

Perhaps the market isn't dismissing the idea of an SAB Miller deal following today's news after all. I should have more on this situation later on the week, so keep an eye on Betaville.

Krafty 3G

I imagine SAB Miller's shares will be hit hard this morning as the Wall Street Journal revealed overnight that 3G, the fund managed by a group of Brazilian billionaires, is in talks to buy Kraft for more than $40 billion.

The newspaper claimed 3G is pursuing Kraft through Heinz, which it bought a couple of years ago, and is likely to merge both companies.

One more thing on SAB Miller.

This week I have been on the receiving end of some pretty spiky banter from rival hacks, analysts and other market practitioners following my piece on 3G and SAB Miller in the Mail on Sunday. In case you didn't see it, here is the link to that piece:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2953714/Burger-King-Brazilians-mull-audacious-75bn-bid-Foster-s-owner-SABMiller.html