RARE Alert: Israeli property giant said to be weighing outright purchase of Atrium European Real Estate Limited

Another piece of random RARE has landed on my desk.

Word is Gazit Globe, the Tel Aviv-based shopping centre giant, is keen on buying out the remainder of Atrium European Real Esate Limited that it doesn't own.

de-RARED: Microsoft said to be in the early stages of examining multi-billion dollar takeover bid for BlackBerry - part 3

I have decided to "de-RARE" or rather remove the RARE tag from my Microsoft/BlackBerry story/series after speaking to a few more decent sources about the tale.

Don't, however, get too excited. I still believe Microsoft is in the "early stages" of looking at BlackBerry with its bankers at Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs.

That email

Ping! An email arrives from a reader interested in the piece I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Deutsche Bank's $2.5 billion fine over interest rate manipulation. (Click on the link to remind yourself of the story - http://betaville123.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/that-meeting.html)

I suspect this reader has a vested interest in the situation. Still, his email posits some valid questions, so I have pasted the main body below:

Top Deutsche Bank dealmaker predicts another "leg to this upcycle"

I was expecting dealmaking the UK to roar back into life after Summer. But it's unusually quiet in the UK M&A market at the moment, with only just a couple of mid-market deals knocking around, such as Greene King's £700m bid for Spirit.

Henrik Aslaken, though, is still reasonably bullish about dealmaking. The head of M&A at Deutsche Bank just told the Financial Times: "we haven't seen the hubris in the boardroom yet, with no outsized megadeal being announced. So it feels like there is another leg to this upcycle."

BAT sits on the sidelines...for now

Looking over this morning's coverage of British American Tobacco's recent figures, I see a couple of newspaper reporters tried to tempt Nicandro Durante, CEO of BAT, into spilling the beans about whether the tobacco giant has any plans to consolidate its position in the US.

BAT has opted to stump up $4.7 billion to keep its stake in Reynolds American at 42pc while it merges with rival Lorillard as part of $50 billion plus mega merger.

Fancy that: BAT appoints Deutsche Bank alongside UBS to advise on $4.7 billion investment in Reynolds/Lorrillard merger

I see British American Tobacco has finally put on an announcement effectively confirming my story on the front page of The Times a few months ago.

Back in May, I wrote that BAT had asked Deutsche Bank to work alongside UBS, the company's long-standing financial adviser, on how it should pursue and finance deals in America. Here is a link to the article: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/consumer/article4086903.ece

Fortress looks to finally get out of Gagfah

It's just hit the tape that US private equity and hedge fund manager Fortress is placing its 27pc stake in German property company Gagfah. Deutsche Bank is doing the placing for Fortress, which bought Gagfah in 2004 for £2 billion.

I think I alluded to something being afoot with Gagfah a few weeks ago on Tip TV - http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/tip-tv-highlight-ben-harrington-21-05-2014/ - although not quite what has been announced this morning.

My debut in The Times biz section with a BAT story

Evening Betavillers. Sorry for the lack of posts today - I have been a bit busy doing some freelance work for the The Times. 

Indeed, some of my followers may have noticed that I had a piece about British American Tobacco published on the front page of The Times business section this morning but for those of you that haven't here is a link to the article:

Fancy a pint?

Am I the only person to have noticed that pub companies Mitchells & Butlers and Greene King are currently trading on the stock market with almost identical market capitalisations?