France's Sanofi-Aventis has agreed to acquire San Diego-based TargeGen, a biopharmaceutical company, for up to $560 million.  Sanofi-Aventis will make an upfront payment of $75 million upon closing of the deal, which is expected in the third quarter. Further milestones payments will occur at different stages of development of TargeGenÔÇÖs lead product TG 101348.  TargeGen develops kinase inhibitors for the treatment of leukemia, lymphona and other blood disorders.

US-based Emerson Electric Co. has countered ABBÔÇÖs recent offer to buy the UKÔÇÖs Chloride Group with its own offer of ┬ú997 million (approximately $1.5 billion).  The offer, at 375 pence a share, is 15 percent higher than Switzerland-based ABBÔÇÖs 325 pence a share bid, which was announced on June 8 and accepted by Chloride.  Emerson took its offer directly to shareholders after management at Chloride reportedly spurned prior approaches. Emerson has outlined annual operating cost savings of at least ┬ú33 million (approx.

Exploration firm EnCore Oil has announced that its Catcher prospect, off the east coast of Scotland, may hold up to 300 million barrels of oil—about 150 million of which is extractable.

EnCore is the operator of the Catcher joint venture and holds a 15 per cent stake. Premier Oil holds 35 per cent; Wintershall (UK North Sea) holds 20 per cent; Nautical Petroleum has 15 per cent; and Agora Oil & Gas holds a 15 per cent stake.

The proposed acquisition will expand URS’s infrastructure capabilities in the UK across a range of markets, including rail and transit, transportation infrastructure, and ports and harbors.

Peel Airports owns Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Robin Hood Airport near Doncaster and a 75 per cent stake in Durham Tees Valley Airport (local borough councils own the remaining 25 per cent).

 Liverpool's John Lennon Airport is one of the UK's 10 busiest airports, serving almost five million passengers last year, while Robin Hood Airport, which opened in 2005, is its newest airport, serving more than 850,000 passengers in 2009.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker will manufacture Focus cars for domestic and export markets at the factory, which is due to open in 2012. The plant in Rayong province, 200 kilometres east of Bangkok, will have an initial capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year.

Some 85 percent of the Thai-based Focus output will be exported, mostly to other south-east Asian nations and to Australia.

Sixty-five kilometres south of Örebro, in sparsely populated forest land, lies one of Sweden’s oldest mining operations. For 152 years, Zinkgruvan has extracted zinc, lead and silver from this central Swedish location. These days, the business is 100 per cent owned by the Canadian company Lundin Mining, which controls mining operations in a number of European countries as well as a partnership in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Like many an African mining operation, Zimplats’ Ngezi mine lies in splendid isolation, 150 kilometres south-west of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare and is surrounded by...bush! Even though there is no expat workforce to push costs up, this remote location means that Zimplats has had to put in place competitive conditions of service in order to retain the full gamut of mining, engineering, geology and metallurgical skills it needs to keep the largest platinum resource in the country running effectively.

A mid-1960s radio series about a crime-fighting character called “Chickenman” spawned a popular catch-phrase: “He’s everywhere! He’s everywhere!” The next time you see a contractor’s pickup truck or a service van from your local utility company driving through the neighborhood, take a look at the ladders strapped on top, and more often than not you’ll see the familiar blue Werner Ladder logo on the side.