Is the tide turning for Odey the Brexiteer? - part 2

It looks like my story from yesterday was bang on the money.

Indeed, just a few hours after I published yesterday morning charming Crispin got on the front foot to go on the record about his recent strong performance in June and also from the result of the referendum.

Boom to bust in just a few months - part 2

Strange - Bloomberg hacks are now arguing the dealmaking boom isn't over. Here is the link:

http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-05-12/m-a-market-isn-t-dead-yet-if-you-just-look-at-the-data

I'm confused...

More Chinese whispers

Dom Walsh's piece on the Tui Hotelbeds auction caught my eye this morning.

Dom - the City's top leisure reporter over at The Times who knows his sector back to front - reports that the final round bidders for Hotelbeds are Cinven, Kuoni/EQT and a mystery Chinese bidder based in Shenzhen, China. Cinven is said to be leading the pack of bidders, according to an earlier Bloomberg report.

Another non-denial, denial - part 2

And now the heavyweight wire services are battling it among themselves with non-denial, denial stories.

Yesterday Bloomberg revealed that:

Back on Tip TV talking about Whitbread, LSE and Actelion - part 2

There were a flurry of stories this evening about US pharmaceutical company Medivation hiring JP Morgan to field takeover offers.

From a quick glance at Twitter it appeared that Bloomberg, Reuters and CNBC in the US
were claiming to have the "sources familiar with the matter" backing the story up. So, Medivation's shares were sharply up in the aftermarket.

From predator to prey... - part 2

So, loyal readers have got in touch following yesterday's item regarding the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's interest in buying Deutsche Borse to point out that there are clear, hard news reports about the former's interest in purchasing the latter.

Here is a link to what looks like a very well sourced Bloomberg piece from 2013:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-02-25/cme-said-to-approach-deutsche-boerse-for-merger-talks

Perhaps those people involved in the situation are on the money after all...?

A man and his view...

It's a good to see another one man band provoke a statement from a multi-billion dollar company.

Rob Manalo - a former broker at Jefferies - recently set up shop on his own and today published a note via his newly-established outfit Manolo LLP saying:

HSBC takeaway - part 2

Readers might recall that earlier this week HSBC was quick out of the blocks to boast how it was the "sole" financial advisor to ChemChina on its $43 billion purchase of Sygenta, sending out a release on topic in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Well, it turns out that might not be the case. According to Bloomberg, some chap called Ze'ev Goldberg was never "far from the side" of ChemChina chairman Ren Jianxin during the heated negotiations with Syngenta.

Shire's next deal could be "transformational" - part 7

I had been wondering what happened to Shire's takeover of Baxalta after Bloomberg reported last weekend that the deal was expected to be announced last week.

Could there be a spanner in the works?

Shire's next deal could be "transformational" - part 6

It would appear the "dullest $30 billion bid battle in history" is drawing to a close.

Bloomberg yesterday reported that Shire and Baxalta could announce a deal, partly funded by cash, this week. Here is a link to the Bloomberg article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-03/shire-said-in-advanced-talks-to-acquire-u-s-drugmaker-baxalta

Woodford said to be increasing his stake in Allied Minds; squeaky bum time for short sellers?

Here is an interesting tale about Allied Minds, a UK-listed business that recently came under attack from short sellers Kerrisdale Capital, a New York-based hedge fund.

In case you don't remember the back story, have a look at this FT Alphaville article:

Coincidence? - part 5

Apologies dear readers for banging on about this ad nauseam but I see Bloomberg revealed this evening that Anheuser-Busch Inbev "reached out" to Altria, SAB Miller's largest shareholder, before the Brazlian brewer's approach to the FTSE 100 company was announced on Wednesday.

So, it would appear the latest Bloomberg tale reinforces my argument from last night that it was crucial for little old Betaville to be the first news outlet on Tuesday afternoon to report the rumours about Altria cancelling its attendance at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference and the renewed speculation about a takeover bid for SAB Miller.

Coincidence? - part 4

Here is a highly amusing tweet from Ed Hammond at Bloomberg:

ed hammond ‏@EdHammondNY  Sep 16

I will strawpedo an entire keg of Beck's if any news outlet can produce a "scoop" predating SAB's public statement on ABI's approach

I'm presuming Ed - who is one of the best M&A reporters on the deal reporting circuit and, I'm told by sources, is a top bloke - hasn't seen Bryce Elder's stock market report in the Financial Times on Wednesday morning or, indeed, my blog posting on Tuesday afternoon on little old Betaville regarding the speculation ABI is about to pounce on SAB Miller.

Coincidence? - part 3

Navel-gazing in financial journalism is reaching a new high.

Indeed, yesterday evening Bloomberg carried out its own investigation into why SAB Miller was forced to stick out a takeover announcement regarding a $250 billion tie-up with Anheuser-Busch InBev. Here is a link:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-16/ab-inbev-sabmiller-race-to-finish-as-takeover-rules-force-hand

Bloomberg reveals Pearson planning to sell the FT - again! - part 4

Hat tip to Bloomberg - FTSE 100-listed Pearson has just confirmed it is in "advanced discussions" about selling the Financial Times, which seems to have sent the UK media scene into a complete tailspin.

I guess, too, there is a lot of egg on face for most of the media commentariat (including me, perhaps), which dismissed the Bloomberg report from earlier in the week as just a re-hash of its story from a couple of years ago.

Bloomberg reveals Pearson planning to sell the FT - again! - part 3

Michael Wolff wrote a particularly insightful piece on why Bloomberg has absolutely no need for a website/publishing arm.

Although the veteran US media commentator doesn't get into whether Pearson should be selling the Financial Times, I'm highlighting Wolf's analysis within the "Bloomberg reveals Pearson planning to the FT - again" series as I think its probably connected to that ongoing story.

Bloomberg reveals Pearson planning to sell the FT - again! - part 2

Bloomberg's "scoop" about FTSE 100-listed Pearson weighing a sale of the Financial Times got short yesterday shift from City analysts, media commentators and investors.

For example, here is a piece from Roy Greenslade, The Guardian's media commentator, on the Bloomberg story:

Bloomberg reveals Pearson planning to sell the FT - again!

Bloomberg has just "broken" the news that Pearson is weighing a £1 billion plus sale of the Pink' un. Here is a link to the Bloomberg exclusive:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-20/pearson-said-to-explore-sale-of-financial-times-after-approaches

What a surprise: Receptos bought for over $7 billion

US pharma group Celgene last night agreed to pay more than $7 billion for Receptos, a biopharmaceutical company.

Now I realise Ed Hammond over at Bloomberg "broke" the story about a potential sale of Receptos several months ago - here is the link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-01/receptos-said-to-get-takeover-interest-amid-partnership-talks

RARE ALERT: Teva said be planning on submitting formal $43 billion takeover bid this weekend

Readers might be scratching their heads, wondering why Teva still hasn't announced a formal offer for rival pharmaceutical company Mylan despite reports from Bloomberg and the Financial Times this week revealing the Israeli company is was preparing to submit a formal offer of between $86 and $88 a share.

Here are links to the Bloomberg and Financial Times articles: