Piper Private Equity said to be in talks to buy Propercorn stake

It's funny how in dealmaking in certain sectors suddenly becomes fashionable. And this week it's popcorn that is in vogue.

Word on the street is that Propercorn has been working with NM Rothschild on a stake sale and is in talks with Piper Equity Partners about a deal.

ECI pulls sale of Reed & Mackay; focus on growing US business

It would appear the sale of Reed & Mackay, the corporate travel agent favoured by some of the City's most prestigious firms, has been called off.

I'm hearing from good sources ECI Partners, the private equity firm that owns Reed & Mackay, has pulled the auction after appointing bankers from NM Rothschild to run a sale process to raise £100 million.

August off?

So, the lads (and ladettes) over FT Alphaville duped me into thinking they had taken August off.

Clearly not! Yesterday, FT Alphaville landed another interesting story about a potential $6 billion takeover of a US-listed software company called Solera (Bloomberg also reported something similar around the same time). Here is the link:

ECI said to be working with NM Rothschild on £100 million sale of Reed & Mackay

I see US private equity firm TPG Capital announced earlier today the £150 million acquisition of discount retailer Poundworld - click on the link for the full story:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/05/14/uk-poundworld-m-a-tpg-idUKKBN0NZ1LQ20150514

Aussie lawyers Slater & Gordon in exclusive talks to buy Quindell's legal services division - part 7

So, I think I said earlier in the week the Quindell takeover situation was likely to liven up. Well, it has livened up.

I hear Quindell held a full board meeting yesterday at which directors discussed appointing bankers from NM Rothschild to advise the company ahead of a potential offer from Australian law firm Slater & Gordon for the AIM-listed group's legal services unit.

Banks edge closer to £400 million Mouchel sale; Kier in the running

It sounds like the Mouchel sale I was talking about on Tip TV yesterday morning is getting closer to completion.

Some of my best sources got in touch after yesterday's session on Tip TV. They believe Mouchel and its advisers at NM Rothschild are now in very serious/advanced discussions about a deal with at least one buyer, and I think the purchaser could very well be Kier Group.