Back on Tip TV talking about Telefonica, Shire and Afren

Moose (Nick Batsford) invited me back onto Tip TV this morning and let me ramble almost uninterrupted for 10 minutes. Here is a clip of today's monologue on M&A by me:

http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/latest-from-the-world-of-ma/

Volatile Afren - part 2

ZhenHua Oil. That is the name of the "mystery" Chinese company I referred to in yesterday's blog post, according to my reliable sources.

Here is a link to yesterday's post: http://betaville123.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/volatile-afren.html

Volatile Afren

Wow - embattled oil explorer Afren has leapt 33pc to close at 28.7p!

The massive move higher comes after the stock plunged 30pc on Monday following news the company had overstated its oil reserves at licences in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Here is a link to a Financial Times piece on Monday's news: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b2b55bb0-9a79-11e4-8426-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3OmV9TqK0

It's cheeky bid time - part 2

Alistair Osborne's brilliant column this morning was alluding to was I suggesting in yesterday's post about Afren although I have to admit his missive was somewhat more sophisticated, detailed and eloquent than mine. If you haven't read Alistair's column, here is a link to it: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/alistairosborne/article4305158.ece

The one thing Alistair - a former colleague/boss of mine during my time at The Daily Telegraph - didn't mention was that Heritage Oil may be one of the parties keen on coming up with a rival bid for Afren following Seplat's approach.

It's cheeky bid time

The boys over at FT Alphaville might have knocked off until the New Year but don't worry, little old Betaville will keep on going until 2015.

First, let's address this rather cheeky bid from for Afren from Seplat, which I have to admit I had never heard of until this morning.