Europe

Paris-based communications giant Alcatel-Lucent has announced it is reviewing the future of its enterprise business.

The company said it is “exploring strategic options to enhance the future opportunities” of the unit, with all avenues being considered, including a sale to a third party.

HP, Cisco and Siemens Enterprise Communications are all thought to have been involved in recent discussions over a possible sale.

Eurostar, the high-speed passenger rail service, has reported strong growth in first half sales revenues and passenger numbers.

Sales revenues were up four per cent from £404 million to £421 million in the first half of 2011, with passenger numbers rising three per cent from 4.6 million to 4.7 million year-on-year.

UK airport operator BAA will be required to sell Stansted Airport, followed by Edinburgh or Glasgow Airport, the Competition Commission (CC) confirmed today.

The decision upholds the CC’s earlier provisional view, which was published in March.

The CC had been considering whether there were any material changes in circumstances since it published its final report on BAA in March 2009 that should give it cause to reconsider the implementation of the airport sales.

Swiss commodities giant Glencore has announced it will acquire a 70 per cent interest in the Peruvian mine owner Marcobre.

Glencore International AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glencore International Plc, will purchase the stake from Hong Kong-based copper mining company CST Mining Group for US$475 million (approximately €338 million).

Marcobre is the sole owner of the Marcona Copper Property and the Mina Justa Project, which has a resource of 413.3 million tonnes, with 0.79 per cent copper.

The deal is expected to close in October 2011.

With the collective appetite of the world’s steel makers likely only to increase, there has never been a better time to be the hand that feeds them, as Becky Done finds out in discussion with Michael Jones and Victoria Sherwood of African Minerals.

austriamicrosystems, a designer and manufacturer of high-performance analogue ICs, has acquired the Texan manufacturer Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions (TAOS).

The value of the deal is $320 million (approx. €226 million).

Oil giant BP is to redevelop two oil fields to the west of the Shetland Islands, it has been announced.

The Schiehallion and Loyal oil fields have produced nearly 400 million barrels of oil since production started in 1998; and an estimated 450 million barrels of resource is still available. BP is planning to invest around £3 billion in redeveloping the two fields, with production scheduled to last until at least 2035.

The company said it would employ the latest technology to maximise recovery from the two fields.

Greencore, the UK’s largest maker of sandwiches, has agreed a deal to acquire its industry rival Uniq in a deal worth £113 million.

Greencore said that Uniq represents an excellent fit to its UK strategy, which will help the combined group achieve greater scale in the food-to-go and chilled desserts markets, as well as adding add new and complementary customer relationships, in particular with the food retailer Marks & Spencer.

Uniq was put up for sale by its pension fund earlier this year after struggling to manage its pension deficit.

Food giant Nestlé has entered into a partnership agreement with Hsu Fu Chi, a leading manufacturer and distributor of confectionery products in China, it has been announced.

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Vevey, Switzerland-based Nestlé will acquire 60 per cent of Hsu Fu Chi, while the Hsu family will own the remaining 40 per cent.

The total value of the transaction is approximately CHF 1.4 billion (approx. €1.2 billion).

Subsea construction and engineering company Technip Norway provides essential infrastructure services to customers working in some of the world’s most challenging environments.