Europe

China’s ICBC Financial Leasing Co has signed an agreement with Airbus for a total of 50 A320 aircraft, including 30 A320ceo and 20 A320neo.

The aircraft purchase agreement was signed in Beijing as part of a series of Europe-China agreements signed in the presence of visiting German chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao.

As of 31 July 2012, there were over 700 A320-family aircraft in operation with 15 Chinese airlines.

Five marine energy developers are to benefit from £7.9 million in funding to develop the testing of new wave and tidal prototypes in Scottish waters.

The second round of WATERS (Wave & Tidal Energy: Research, Development & Demonstration Support) funding is to enable Scottish developers and supply chain firms to capture an increased share of the growing international marine energy market, which could be worth up to £4 billion to Scotland’s economy by 2020.

A relative newcomer to the tire business, Eurotire is making room for itself in a crowded marketplace.

Imagine the situation: a new name in off-road tires for the mining industry is trying to break into a market dominated by three of the biggest brands in the world. At the other end of the spectrum, customers are losing faith in unknown brands thanks to masses of inferior Chinese tires flooding the market and failing to live up to expectation.

Ireland’s Greencore Group has acquired International Cuisine Limited, a private label chilled ready meal business, from the Hain Daniels Group in the UK.

International Cuisine Limited’s ready meal facility is based in Consett, County Durham and the majority of its revenue (approximately £45 million) is derived from several existing Greencore ready meal customers.

Irish healthcare services provider United Drug has agreed to acquire UK and US clinical services businesses Bilcare Global Clinical Supplies from India-based Bilcare.

The deal, which is worth $61 million, is expected to complete on 31 August 2012. As part of the agreement, Bilcare will retain its clinical supplies business in Asia.

UK transport company FirstGroup has been chosen by the government to operate the InterCity West Coast rail franchise until 2026.

The route links a number of the UK’s major urban areas, including London, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.

BP has agreed to sell its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distribution business in the UK to DCC, a sales, marketing, distribution and business support services group.

BP’s LPG distribution business supplies a wide range of industrial, commercial and domestic customers with an annual volume of approximately 87,000 tonnes of bulk and cylinder LPG. It has 116 staff and operates from a network of 13 locations throughout the UK with a fleet of 62 delivery vehicles.

Industrial gases and equipment supplier Air Products has announced it is to build an energy-from-waste plant in Teesside, UK.

The Tees Valley plant, located at the New Energy and Technology Business Park near Billingham, Teesside, will be the first of its kind in the UK, and will use advanced gasification energy-from-waste (EfW) technology.

The plant will be the largest of its kind anywhere in the world, with an approximate capacity of 50MW.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world's biggest contract chipmaker, has agreed to invest €276 million into the Dutch manufacturer ASML.

ASML will use the money for the research and development of next-generation lithography technologies, including extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology and 450mm lithography tools.

ASML is one of the world's leading providers oflithography systems for the semiconductor industry, manufacturing complex machines that are critical to the production of integrated circuits or chips