Professional Services

The stockholders of Continental Airlines and United Airlines have voted overwhelmingly in favor of the companies’ planned merger to create the world’s largest carrier.

At a special meeting of Continental stockholders in Houston Friday, over 98 percent of the votes cast and 75 percent of shares outstanding were voted in favor of the transaction.

At a similar meeting of United stockholders in Chicago, more than 98 percent of the votes cast and 84 percent of the shares outstanding were voted in favor.

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.

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.

Virgin Money has created 200 jobs in Edinburgh as part of its strategy to firm up its foothold in the UK banking sector.

The financial arm of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is giving a much-needed boost to the Scottish capital, which has suffered from large-scale job cuts.

Virgin Money said the new jobs would bring its total workforce to 500.

The group is now looking for city-centre premises for a new operations office, with staff recruitment expected to begin early next year, ahead of the spring launch date set for Virgin Bank.

David Hendricks dons his cleanest overalls to talk to the EVP of Bee-Clean Building Maintenance, a contract cleaner that provides cleaning services to a wide range of clients across Canada.

Australia is enjoying a boom in oil and gas exploration and development. Frans Roozendaal, managing director of Technip Oceania, tells Gay Sutton how the company is thriving in this increasingly competitive environment, and responding to the challenges it presents.

One of South Africa’s foremost research institutes is still going strong after 76 years—and has plenty of innovations on the horizon too, as Alan Swaby learns.

For an organisation dedicated to scientific and industrial change, Mintek has seen its fair share of structural, political and commercial changes over the years.

Technical and management support services consultancy AECOM Technology Corporation has strengthened its global footprint with an agreement to acquire Davis Langdon, a UK-based cost and project management consultancy firm, in a transaction valued at US$324 million.

With 2,800 employees, Davis Langdon serves clients around the world, with a strong presence in Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, the Middle East and the United States.

10. Oliver Wyman

Oliver Wyman, a business unit of Marsh & McLennan, is an international management consulting firm. Founded in 1984, the firm adopted its current form in May 2007 through the combination of three global consulting businesses.

Chicago based insurance conglomerate Aon Corp. has agreed to buy human resources specialist Hewitt Associates for $4.9 billion in a cash-and-stock deal that will almost triple the size of its consulting arm.

Assuming it is approved by regulators, the deal, which values Hewitt at $50 per share, will be Aon’s biggest ever merger. Although it is the world’s largest insurance broker, Aon’s consulting business lags behind rival Marsh & McLennan Co.