Europe

Shell has agreed to buy East Africa-focused Cove Energy in a deal worth £1.12 billion, it has been announced.

London-listed Cove will be acquired by the energy giant’s Shell Bidco subsidiary.

The acquisition marks Shell's entry into Kenya and Mozambique, with potential for new LNG from recent gas discoveries offshore Mozambique. Shell already has interests in Tanzania.

Swiss food giant Nestlé has agreed to acquire Pfizer Nutrition for $11.85 billion, it has been announced.

Nestlé said the acquisition would be a strategic fit with its infant nutrition business, given US-based Pfizer Nutrition’s complementary portfolio and strong presence in high-growth markets.

Nestlé described Pfizer Nutrition as a high-quality, high-growth infant nutrition business with strong brands, value-creating and accretive to the Nestlé model.

University College Dublin (UCD) has signed a memorandum of understanding with a leading Chinese dairy producer, Dairy United.

The agreement, which is expected to bring about multi-million Euro contracts for products and services, sets out the development of a China-Ireland Agricultural demonstration farm in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, as well as collaborative research projects, the provision of education and training, and collaboration on creating a trade corridor to facilitate the export of Irish products to Inner Mongolia.

Norwegian EPC specialist Kvaerner has been awarded an engineering, procurement, construction and management contract for the Shell-operated Ormen Lange/Nyhamna onshore facilities on the west coast of Norway.

The contract, worth NOK 6 billion (excluding options), is a framework agreement for a duration of six years, with options for an additional two-plus-two years.

Irish convenience food producer Greencore Group has announced it will acquire US-based Marketfare Foods for £22.6 million.

Marketfare, which is headquartered in Arizona, is a leading manufacturer of food-to-go products for convenience and small stores in the US. Its principal customer is 7-Eleven, with whom it has partnered for over 20 years.

The IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have announced an investment of up to $100 million to support the construction of major infrastructure projects across the Middle East and North Africa.

The investment is part of an effort to stimulate economic growth in the MENA region. The IFC and IDB are each investing $50 million in the Arab Infrastructure Investment Vehicle (AIIV), part of the Arab Financing Facility for Infrastructure (AFFI), a joint initiative of the World Bank, the IDB and IFC.

Indian steel giant Tata has announced it plans to invest £800 million into Wales’ steel making industry over the next five years.

First minister Carwyn Jones recently met the vice chairman of Tata Steel, Mr B Muthuraman, in Mumbai as part of a government trade mission to the country.

Ireland’s Providence Resources has confirmed it has received the final payment of US$6 million for the sale of its Nigerian interest, OML 113.

The payment marks the end of Providence’s asset portfolio restructuring, allowing it to focus on its core areas of offshore Ireland and onshore United Kingdom.

Providence divested its Nigerian subsidiary, which holds its interest in OML 113 offshore Nigeria, to Jacka for a total consideration of $16 million, $10 million of which was paid in December 2011, with the balance of $6 million to be paid in April 2012.

Japanese car maker Nissan has announced that its all-new mid-sized hatchback will be produced at its Sunderland plant in the UK.

The as-yet unnamed new medium hatchback will create an additional 225 jobs at Nissan and 900 jobs at component companies supplying Nissan in the UK. The car will be manufactured from 2014.

The news follows the announcement at last month's Geneva Motor Show that Sunderland will also produce a mainstream B-segment compact car based on Nissan’s Invitation concept from next year.

Jaguar Cars has confirmed that it will bring an all-new sports car into production, to be known as the F-TYPE.

Speaking at the New York auto show Adrian Hallmark, global brand director, Jaguar Cars, confirmed: "We showed the C-X16 concept in September 2011, and the reaction to it has been so positive that we've accelerated our development of an all-new Jaguar sports car.