Exxon Mobil said to have abandoned £70 billion BP takeover deal - part 2

Wow - these "old" or "stale" deal stories are becoming quite fashionable.

Reuters has just unveiled an "exclusive" scoop revealing ChemChina made a multi-billion takeover approach for BG Group, which has just been bought by Royal Dutch Shell. Here is the link:

Back on Tip TV talking about BP, Medivation and Actelion

I hadn't been on Tip TV for a while and was starting to wonder whether Moose, the owner of the channel, had got fed up with me.

Last week, though, I got the call inviting me on the show today, so here is the link:

Exxon Mobil said to have abandoned £70 billion BP takeover deal

Kleinman, of Sky News, today published a rather intriguing story about a £6 billion takeover bid for J Sainsbury that has just been "abandoned". The thing is, the market never knew about this takeover bid in the first place.

Still, Kleinman's story is extremely detailed. If you haven't read it, click on the link below:

The Times diary predicts Dobson to retire from Schroders; Helge Lund to BP next?

I seem to praising lots of rival journalists today - but credit where credit is due.

This time, The Times diary section, that day edited by Patrick Hosking, deserves to take a bow after suggesting in early February Michael Dobson, the veteran Schroders chief executive, was considering stepping down.

Shell / BG Group worries - part 3

There has been a lot of debate in the British financial press in recent weeks about whether Shell should press ahead with its multi-billion pound purchase of rival BG Group.

Ian McVeigh of Jupiter Fund Management has been particularly vocal in his opposition, likening the transaction to Royal Bank of Scotland's disastrous purchase of Dutch rival ABN Amro at the height of the credit boom. Read all about it here:

The Scottish entrepreneur, the premium gunmaker and the Turkish concrete firm

It's pretty quiet in the London market during the dog days of August, so I thought I would inform loyal readers about this little deal I stumbled across that involves the reclusive entrepreneur Dr Jim Hay, who heads one of Scotland's wealthiest families.

For readers unfamiliar with Dr Hay, he worked at BP for almost 30 years before founding JMH Group, a construction and lifestyle company whose upmarket brands include Saville Row taylor Bernard Weatherill, gunmaker Ray Ward and French hunting lodge Parc de Launay.

The BP political conundrum

There are some brilliant comment columns in today's British newspapers on the UK government's decision to tell BP it's not too keen on the idea of a foreign bidder gobbling up the FTSE 100 oil producer. 

Both Alistair Osborne of The Times and Nils Pratley of The Guardian make some good points in their respective opinion pieces on David Cameron's move whilst Alistair's colleagues suggest in a news article that Exxon Mobil is the most likely acquirer of BP.

Back on Tip TV talking about Quindell, BP, BioMarin and Sky

Zak invited back onto Tip TV today. Here is a link to today's session:

http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/weekly-ma-update/

Back on Tip TV talking about Kier Group, big US deals and BP

Nick Batsford - aka Moose - very kindly asked me back onto Tip TV to talk about M&A. As usual, it was great fun and also a great honour - I preceded veteran City commentators such as Panmure Gordon's David Buik.  

Here is a link to today's clip: http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/ma-ben-harrington-betaville-blogspot/