US defense group L-1 Identity Solutions is to be sold to French rival Safran, with the UK’s BAE Systems also acquiring three of its Intelligence Services divisions, the company announced today.

BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defense contractor, will take over SpecTal LLC, Advanced Concepts, Inc., and McClendon, LLC, after which transaction Safran will take over the remaining units, Secure Credentialing Solutions, Biometric and Enterprise Access Solutions and Enrollment Services.

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is to almost double its stake in the Norwegian Stratfjord field in a deal that will boost its expansion efforts in the North Sea.

The acquisition, worth £144 million, will increase Centrica’s oil and gas reserves by 29 million barrels of oil equivalent. It will provide the UK-based company with an additional 172 billion cubic feet equivalent of gas and oil reserves, and an incremental 70 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and oil production in 2010.

Energy Automation Systems, Inc. (EASI), which develops, manufactures and markets energy saving technologies, has started construction on a $1.5 million, 20,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Gallatin, Tennessee.

The company expects to manufacture approximately $30 million of products annually at the new site.

The facility is located on an eight-acre tract of land that EASI officials bought 10 years ago in anticipation of company growth. Project completion is scheduled in late December 2010.

British aero engineer Hampson Industries has won its largest ever tooling contract, worth $53 million (£34 million).

The contract is to design and manufacture lightweight mandrel tools for carbon fibre lay-up for a major commercial aerospace programme.

Although the West Midlands-based company did not name the customer, it is widely believed to be Boeing, the world's second largest commercial plane maker.

Outsourcing your non-core processes to the experts can save your business time and money, freeing up your resources to focus on what you do best. Becky Done talks to Danila Meirlaen, VP for Business Process Outsourcing, HP Enterprise Services EMEA, to find out what’s involved.

Trading electronically makes great strategic sense for buyers and suppliers alike; but technical complexity can be a barrier to realising the benefits of enhanced supply chain visibility, as David Grosvenor explains.

The priority of most private investors is to see a healthy return on their outlay—with ethical considerations coming second. But the two do not have to be mutually exclusive, as Becky Done finds out from Lawrie Smith, co-founder of ethical investment company Greenleaf Global.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, The Lanesborough is renowned for quality and service. Front of house manager Michael Naylor-Leyland explains to Gay Sutton how this enviable reputation has been achieved.

The Brussels-based EFQM, formerly the European Foundation for Quality Management, has had a busy 12 months—and its schedule for the coming year doesn’t look to be any less hectic either. Becky Done finds out what changes the Foundation has made in order to reflect today’s business environment, and how it is looking ahead to tomorrow.

A public-private partnership (PPP) project for police facilities in the Canadian province of Ontario has been awarded to German-owned HOCHTIEF Concessions.

Its subsidiary HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions North America has been contracted to design, build, finance and maintain a total of 18 provincial police facilities.

HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions has a 50 percent stake in the project company Shield Infrastructure Partnership. Over the 30-year term of the agreement, the project has a contract volume of C$412 million. The investment volume is C$117 million.