The deal, which has been announced as being worth 7.5 billion euros, will see JAB adding the brand to what is already an impressive stable of similar products including Caribou Coffee and Peet’s Coffee & Tea.

JAB was already the largest shareholder in DE Master Blenders, which itself also owns Senseo coffee and Pickwick Tea, with a stake of more than 15 percent.

The move comes as Opel, which is also recognised for carrying the badge of Vauxhall in the UK, enters its fourteenth year of losing money. This long period of making loses has sparked a great deal of speculation that the business might be sold.

Despite these rumours, GM’s chief executive, Dan Akerson said: “As a global automotive company, GM needs a strong presence in Europe and therefore we see Opel as key to our success. As such it continues to enjoy the full support of its parent company.”

Hot on the heels of achieving the long awaited approval from the federal government of Australia to proceed with its Wiluna uranium mine Toro Energy has entered talks with seven potential partners in Japan, China and South Korea. Though Australia does not generate nuclear power domestically it is an extremely attractive source of nuclear fuel to Asian countries that do – politically and economically stable and geographically accessible.

Solid demand from the aerospace and auto markets has resulted in the company’s net income nearly doubling to $121 million. In announcing the results Alcoa highlighted productivity improvements and higher volumes in its downstream business as factors that help partially offset higher pension and maintenance costs.

It was in 1988 that BF Goodrich, the company that first discovered how to bond rubber to steel, decided to divest the industrial businesses it had accrued and focus on its aerospace assets. The US rubber lining business was sold to RJF International Corporation, while its Canadian operations to Epton Industries Incorporated. In 1996, Peter Snucins purchased the assets and intellectual property of Epton Industries and created Polycorp Ltd in Elora, Ontario.

“Over all,” explains Mohammed Akoojee, executive responsible for investor relations and corporate strategy, “our performance over the last 12-to-18 months has been good, with the majority of our core business segments showing strong growth. We just released a report that shows that our earnings during the last six months were up 15 percent, even in the face of some challenging market conditions that we were exposed to during that time period.”

The company is currently working on the development of a hydrokinetic energy generation device and will be supported by a £100,000 award from Scottish Enterprise.

Samuel Lewinter, chief executive of ResHydro, said: "We are pleased to have the opportunity to open our Scottish subsidiary where we will have access to significant technical expertise and where market conditions will contribute to the most expeditious commercialisation of our technology."