Nutmegged on SOBI

Hacks over at FT Alphaville have pulled the trigger on the Swedish Orphan Biovitrum takeover tale. Here is a link to the piece:

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2016/05/20/2162592/friday-raw-are-bidders-circling-sobi-again/

RARE Alert: Apollo/Casual Dining Group said to be circling the Restaurant Group

Loyal readers will have picked up on my scepticism about the recent Restaurant Group bid rumours in my "Burnt fingers" series. However, perhaps too much time in journalism (over a decade now) can make you too cynical.

So, I'm prepared to air a Restaurant Group takeover tale that I have stumbled across recently as it contains a lot more detail than your standard "private equity" bid rumours that go around the market every couple of weeks.

The curious case of the BHS dealmaker, the Nottingham-based sock maker and the Swiss retailer

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more bizarre, little old Betaville can add another intriguing twist to the BHS saga.

It turns out that Paul Sutton - the dealmaker who reportedly worked on the original sale of BHS to Dominic Chappell's Retail Acquisitions - has been cooking up another multi-million pound takeover deal. In fact, Olly Shah of The Sunday Times already alluded to this potential deal in one of his past scoops on BHS.

Imaginatik said to be working on £2 million equity fundraising - part 2

Great to see another Betaville scoopette confirmed this morning on the UK's regulatory news service.

Here are the links to the confirmations to this morning's jackanory.

Imaginatik said to be working on £2 million equity fundraising

Imaginatik, in which controversial businessman Rob Terry has been re-building a substantial stake, is preparing a £2 million equity fundraising.

City sources told little old Betaville that Finn Cap, Imaginatik's brokers, is working on a plan to raise £1.5 million via a placing and £500,000 via an open offer to investors.

Weekend review

There were a couple of pieces in the Saturday business sections that caught my eye.

In particular, I enjoyed Fletch's interview with Justin King, the former J Sainsbury boss who is now a top bod over at private equity firm Terra Firma. I would provide readers with a link to Fletch's article but The Times has done something weird to its website which means I can't find the link.

AAC Capital said to consider £100 million plus sale of Dunlop Aviation Tyres

The former buy-out arm of ABN Amro is weighing a £100 million plus sale of one of Britain's oldest manufacturing businesses.

City sources said AAC Capital, which used to be part of Dutch bank ABN Amro, asked corporate finance advisers to pitch for a sell side mandate a couple of years ago but up until now the private equity firm has waited for the right moment to begin the sale process.

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...

Boom to bust in a just a few months

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly things can change in mega cap dealmaking.

Last year, markets witnessed record breaking takeovers - such as Anheuser-Busch Inbev's £75 billion takeover of SAB Miller and Royal Dutch Shell's £40 billion purchase of BG Group - but the first few months of this year has seen M&A activity fall of a cliff, with several major announced deals collapsing altogether.

The imprisoned Libor trader, the property developer and the bank

Tom Hayes, the imprisoned Libor trader, has seen a huge response to his fundraising efforts for his appeal.

So far, according to the website, Hayes has raised £16,890. Here is the link if you want to make a donation.

Retail titbits - part 2

It's pretty quiet in private equity land (thanks to the Brexit referendum) but here's a little update on the Radley auction I wrote about last week.

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.

Navel gazing

Deal watchers interested in understanding how M&A reporting works might be interested in signing up to an event being held by the Cass Business School's "M&A Research Centre".

The academic institution has lined up the great and the good of M&A reporters past and present to carry out a debate about deal reporting, how this style of journalism has changed in the last few years and how it will change in the future. Here is the link:

Quelle Surprise: Chinese group emerges as stake builder in Imagination Technologies

I see Imagination Technologies has just disclosed that Chinese outfit Tsinghua Unigroup International  has bought a 3pc stake in the chip designer.

Regular readers of little old Betaville should be aware that six months ago I raised the prospect of  mystery Chinese suitor circling Imagination Technologies on Tip TV. In case you don't recall, here are the links:

Sunday review

There weren't many large cap M&A scoops in the Sunday business sections this weekend but I guess that's to be expected in the run up to the Brexit referendum.

One tale, though, that did catch my eye was about Royal Bank of Scotland facing a £400 million claim in The Sunday Telegraph. Here is the link:

Friday Fun - the billionaire entrepreneur, the intrepid hack and, er, Twitter

Is that Benji Martin sitting alongside Sir Richard Branson (see below)?

Well, if it is I take my hat off to the top Telegraph reporter because I have to admit, I can't say I ever got to appear in a public picture with such a powerful business person during my 8-year career on the paper.

Retail titbits

Here are a couple of retail industry snippets I stumbled across whilst galavanting around the City (of London) today looking for stories.

First of, it would appear the sale of handbag maker Radley is progressing, with bids said to have been submitted last week.

Burnt fingers - part 2

Market punters that like to bet on the next takeover deal are likely to be experiencing burnt fingers for the second time in a week.

That's because the outgoing chairman of SOBI, a Sweden-based rare disease drug developer, slotted 8m shares last night, suggesting the company has not been approached by buyer.

Is Odey still bearish or turning bullish - part 2

Ping! An email arrives with the latest Odey Asset Management investor letter.

Whilst the fund's overall performance - down about 31pc since the beginning of the year to the middle of April - made headlines a couple of weeks ago in the venerable Financial Times, I can provide a bit of colour about where the old buffer has taken a hit in his flagship Odey European Fund.

Sunday review; and Mike Ashley to save BHS? - part 2

It's been another tricky weekend for Sir Philip Green. In fact, the boisterous billionaire's reputation took a serious battering in the UK business press throughout the whole of last week following the confirmation of the BHS administration.

What must be particularly galling for Sir Philip is those newspapers that have up until now held back from critiquing the entrepreneur could no longer sit on the sidelines and it pretty much became open season on the pugnacious retailer.