Europe

Drinks maker Diageo has made a bid for the Ethiopian state-owned brewery Meta Abo, according to a report in Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper.

The move could jeopardize East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL)’s plans to enter the Ethiopian market, the paper said. London, UK-based Diageo holds a 50.03 per cent stake in EABL.

Diageo is planning to expand its footprint throughout East Africa, and has so far used EABL as its vehicle in the region.

Diageo’s rivals Heineken and SABMiller are also said to have made bids to acquire Meta Abo.

UK-based Sable Mining Africa has acquired an 80 per cent stake in Sierra Leone’s Red Rock Mining, it has been announced.

Red Rock holds a 50-year lease at the Bagla Hills iron ore deposit in the south-east of Sierra Leone. Bagla Hills lies about 52 kilometres from Kenema, and forms a continuation of the Western Cluster iron ore deposits across the border with Liberia.

 The lease area covers 206.75 square kilometres in total.

UK-based Pan African Resources has been awarded a mining licence on its Manica exploration project in Mozambique.

The mining licence, converted from a prospecting licence, gives Pan African—an African-focused gold mining company—the ability to move the project forward to development stage.

The Manica licence area is situated in central Mozambique, approximately four kilometres north of Manica, which lies about 270 kilometres inland from the port city of Beira.

UK-based oil and gas services provider Petrofac has won a contract worth over $240 million (£149 million) from Shell Iraq to develop facilities in the Majnoon Field.

Under the terms of the contract, Petrofac is providing engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction management services for the development of a new early production system, consisting of two trains each with capacity for 50,000 barrels of oil per day, as well as the upgrading of existing brownfield facilities.

Ireland’s Conroy Gold and Natural Resources has announced positive results on its drilling programme at Clay Lake in County Armagh.

Clay Lake covers an area of around 141 hectares and has returned the highest gold-in-soil values recorded by Conroy on its Irish exploration licences. The current drilling programme builds on the company’s previous positive gold results, which revealed the presence of a broad zone of gold mineralisation.

The Competition Commission today confirmed its ruling that BAA should sell Stansted Airport and either one of Edinburgh or Glasgow Airports.

The Commission made its initial ruling two years ago in March 2009, but BAA has been fighting through the courts to retain its portfolio of airports.

After the sale of Gatwick in December 2009 to a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners, BAA currently operates six airports: Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

UK-based clinical contract research organisation Chiltern International has announced further expansion in Europe, with the opening of a new office in Leiden, the Netherlands.

The company, which has its headquarters in Slough, Berkshire, manages phase I-IV clinical trials across a range of therapeutic areas as well as offering functional service provision and contract staffing solutions. It has conducted trials in more than 40 countries since its founding in 1982.

Chiltern has confirmed the appointment of Angela Pasma as Netherlands country manager.

British entertainment legend HMV is considering the sale of its Canadian retail operation to avoid breaking the terms of its debt arrangement.

With debts in the region of $200 million, the sale of assets seems the most likely short term option. HMV is already said to be looking for a buyer for its UK book retailer Waterstones, with Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut an interested party, possibly in partnership with the bookseller’s original founder Tim Waterstone.

Oil and gas major Royal Dutch Shell may spend up to R1.4 billion (approx. €145 million) on exploration in the Karoo region of South Africa, according to a report in Johannesburg’s I-Net Bridge.

Shell has asked the Petroleum Agency of South Africa for permission to explore around 90,000 square kilometres predominantly in the western area of the Karoo Basin.

Virgin Rail Group is one of the companies shortlisted to tender for the new West Coast franchise, it has been announced.

Having revealed its shortlist for the new franchise yesterday, the Department for Transport is expected to publish the invitation to tender in May, with a bid deadline of August. The new franchisee will be announced in December, with the franchise expected to start in April 2012.

The West Coast service runs between London Euston and Glasgow, connecting Scotland, north-west England and the West Midlands to London.