Ticker Archive
MARCH 2008
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- WestLB to cut 25% of its staff
(Herald Tribune)
WestLB said it will cut about 25 percent of its work force as its owners agreed to provide $7.2 billion to bail out the German bank, which is reeling from trading and subprime-related losses. The bank will shift securities into a new off-balance-sheet unit and cut as many as 1,500 of its 5,900 staff to save about €300 million a year by 2010.
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- Viega increased annual sales to US$ 250 mln
(The Wichita Eagle)
Viega, a family-owned German company, has grown from about $6 million in annual sales to more than $250 million since Dan Schmierer joined the company as the first president of Viega North America -- which has now become Viega LLC -- only a few years ago. The manufacturer of plumbing and heating technology products has been in America since 1999 and established its headquarter in Wichita in 2006.
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- SAP says holds 95% of Business Objects
(Reuters)
SAP AG said it had acquired 95.35 percent of Franco-American software maker Business Objects by the end of a second offer period. The world's largest maker of business software plans to proceed with a squeeze-out of remaining minority shareholders and delist Business Objects, it said in a statement..
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- Deutsche Bank purchases U.S. hedge fund administrator
(Bloomberg)
Deutsche Bank AG purchased U.S. hedge-fund administrator HedgeWorks LLC, adding clients with $10 billion in assets. HedgeWorks provides administrative services to more than 100 hedge funds, Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank said in an e-mailed statement. HedgeWorks, based in Carlsbad, California, has about 30 employees.
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- SAP plans to expand facilities in Delaware County
(Select News)
SAP Americas Inc. is expanding its Newtown Square facilities by constructing a new 220,000-square-foot building that will house 800 additional employees. The new building is phase one of a two-phase expansion project. The first building is expected to be completed by spring 2009. This new facility will allow SAP to consolidate two companies it recently acquired -- Lighthammer and Triversity of Exton, PA, and Bristol, PA -- onto one main corporate campus.
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- Wacker finalizes acquisition of Polymer JV
(Press Release)
Wacker Chemie AG has successfully concluded its acquisition of full ownership of Air Products Polymers (APP) and Wacker Polymer Systems (WPS), its two joint ventures with Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. The transaction announced in December 2007 has now been cleared by the European and U.S. antitrust authorities.
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- Pfleiderer AG's successful expansion
(Business Wire)
Pfleiderer AG, a leading manufacturer of engineered wood products, announced an expansion of its North American laminate flooring business. The company unveiled plans to roll out the new Pergo Prestige collection at all Home Depot retail locations in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2008.
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- DHL Express finalises plans for transatlantic 767 operation
(Flightglobal.com)
DHL Express placed orders for six General Electric CF6-80C2-powered 767-300Fs a couple of months ago -- with deliveries due to begin in 2009. Now DHL Express Aviation chief executive Charles Graham said that details of the 767 operation are being finalised. Although the express carrier is “still evaluating how we will crew the operation,” Graham expects to be in a position to disclose this and details of where the aircraft will operate to in the USA from its European hub in Leipzig, Germany, in the second quarter.
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- T-Mobile International added 12 million users
(Bloomberg/Inar.de/AP)
Deutsche Telekom significantly increased its worldwide customer base: T-Mobile International added 12 million users, including 7 million outside Germany, for a total of 120 million at the end of 2007, Chief Executive Officer René Obermann said. Among all divisions T-Mobile USA once again made the largest contribution to continued growth abroad. In the fourth quarter of 2007, the company gained 951,000 net additions in the U.S., recording a total of 28.7 million customers.
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- DHL denies sale to FedEx
(Memphis Business Journal)
DHL spokesman in the U.S. Jonathan Baker said that he denies any plans by DHL's parent company Deutsche Post to sell its U.S. delivery service. "There is no question about our exiting the U.S. business, a withdrawal can be completely ruled out," he added. Yet, Deutsche Post wants to write down the value of the DHL Express Americas division by $874 million. According to the Financial Times Deutschland, citing unidentified company officials, the DHL U.S. delivery service is being offered to FedEx.
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- Continental CEO predicts innovative products
(Crain's Detroit Business)
Continental Automotive is well-positioned for the changing times that require innovative products, said William Kozyra, CEO of Continental Automotive Systems of North America. For example, Continental is working on the next generation of telematics systems for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Kozyra also predicted a driverless vehicle will one day be a reality and "Continental will be at the forefront".
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- Siemens makes Wisconsin its U.S. water research center
(Journal Sentinel)
Siemens AG makes the shores of Lake Michigan its U.S. water research center. "Wisconsin easily is the most important state for us," said Roger Radke, president and chief executive of Siemens Water Technologies Corp. The company already relies on two Wisconsin acquisitions to drive growth in its water technologies division: Envirex in Waukesha and Zimpro Environmental near Wausau.
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- Crossgate AG Announces Expansion of US Subsidiary
(PR Newswire)
Crossgate AG, a global leader in electronic data interchange, will expand its American operations: Crossgate, Inc. is responsible for delivering "on demand" B2B solutions to midsize and large companies in the United States and the Americas. The Atlanta headquarters builds on an existing operational base that was established in 2005 in New York City.
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- Schott Solar to invest $100M in New Mexico facility
(Business Weekly)
Schott Solar will build a solar energy technology production facility in the planned mixed-use community of Mesa del Sol on the southern edge of Albuquerque. The German company will spend $100 million on the 200,000-square-foot plant, which will employ 350 people. Production is estimated to begin by summer 2009. There are long-term plans to expand it to 800,000 square feet with 1,500 employees, for a totalinvestment of $500 million.
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- EADS to "continue to target" mid-sized US acquisitions
(Thomson Financial)
EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said the company will 'continue to target' mid-sized acquisitions in the U.S. The company will "invest heavily" in an A330 site in Mobile, Alabama, if it wins the U.S. KC-X tanker competition. EADS had been formed in 2000 by the merger of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG of Germany, Aérospatiale-Matra of France, and Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) of Spain.
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- Nufern to be bought by German laser maker
(Hartford Courant)
Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc., a German-based manufacturer of industrial laser equipment and one of the world's leading developers in this segment, announced that it had signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Nufern as a wholly-owned subsidiary of RSTI, in a cash transaction.
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- Bosch Group acquired shares in Health Hero Network
(Press Release)
The Bosch Group announced it has acquired a majority share holding in Health Hero Network, a leading innovator in the remote health monitoring business. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto and since it was founded in 1992, the company has been issued 63 patents. Health Hero Network currently employs 44 associates, all of whom will be retained by Bosch.
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- Manufacturer with German ties to settle in Aurora
(Chicago News)
Centa Corp. will expand warehousing and launch manufacturing operations in the U.S. for the first time with a new plant in Aurora. The North American daughter company of Centa Antriebe Kirschey GmbH previously had a small leased warehouse and distribution office in Westmont.
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- Munich Re to pay $352M for Sterling Life
(Herald Tribune)
Reinsurer Munich Re AG said it reached a deal to buy U.S. healthcare insurer Sterling Life Insurance Co. for US$352 million in cash, giving it more access to older Americans who want to buy health insurance.
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- Daimler wins orders for 1,052 hybrid city buses
(Aviation Newswire)
Daimler AG's North American bus business has won orders from New York City and Ottawa for a total of 1,052 diesel-electric hybrid public transit buses, the company said. These buses will be powered by BAE Systems' hybrid propulsion system and will be delivered into 2010.
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- Senate Ratifies Protocol to German-American Tax Treaty
(RGIT)
The U.S. Senate unexpectedly ratified changes to the German-American double taxation tax treaty. The Protocol amends Article 25 (Mutual Agreement Procedure) to mandate binding arbitration for disputes pending for more than two years (and in other circumstances), the first-ever such provision in a U.S. tax agreement.
