BMW Group has today announced a £250 million investment in its UK manufacturing operations by the end of 2015.

The investment will be made at BMW’s manufacturing plant in Oxford, its steel body pressings operation at Swindon and its engine plant at Hams Hall near Birmingham, to support the company’s international growth strategy for the MINI brand with increasing volumes and up to 10 different models in the new line-up in the mid-term.

The move comes on top of the £500 million UK investment announced in June 2011 and will secure 5,500 UK jobs.

Chemicals manufacturer BASF has said it will expand its vinylformamide (VFA) capacity in Germany and China in order to meet growing global demand.

The company will expand its manufacturing plant for VFA in Ludwigshafen, Germany, as well as increasing its polymerization capacity. It will also build a new polymerization line for VFA in China for further processing of the feedstock from Ludwigshafen. This facility will be built at the Zhenjiang site, Jiangsu province.

What is the best business book you have ever read, and why?

The Wealth of Nationsby Adam Smith. It reveals the theories that have inspired powerful economic and social changes in the world.

Someone you would most like to have met, living or dead, and why?

Warren Buffet. I admire thisbillionaire investor’s unique approach to management and investment. The opportunity might arise in the near future to have lunch with him and potentially do business together.

In a collaboration with Genesis Soils, dust control and soil stabilization specialist PennzSuppress has announced the introduction of PZS/Bio-Gen.

Due to the increased need for aggressive mine tailing remediation and erosion control, PennzSuppress D has been combined with mycorrhizal fungi and beneficial bacteria and grass seed in a liquid combination which virtually eliminates the need for traditional hydro seeding applications in most situations.

Airline services company Gate Gourmet has agreed to acquire catering facilities owned by Qantas Catering Group in Australia.

The catering businesses, run by Q Catering, are a Riverside facility in Sydney and a Cairns-based operation in Queensland. Both offer a full suite of catering services, including menu development; meal production; aircraft provisioning; post-arrival unloading; and dishwashing and equipment warehousing. The Cairns facility also offers cabin cleaning.

On American Independence Day, we hear that patriotism is the US plays a big role in consumers’ choice of automobiles.

According to the July edition of the Shopper Insights Report from the AutoTrader.com trend engine, 41 percent of car shoppers recently surveyed say that it is important to purchase a vehicle built in the US by US workers, versus 28 percent who say it is important to purchase a vehicle made by a US automaker somewhere else.

Richard Kelertas, senior vice president, corporate development, explains why the Dallol Project in Ethiopia is perfectly placed to satisfy the growing demand for potash.

The race is on to satisfy accelerating world demand for potash, and in this Olympic year Allana Potash is in gold medal position as its Dallol Project in the Danakhil region of Ethiopia has the finishing line in sight.

In the 16 years since its inception, Silver Star Auto has created and maintained an impressive market share for Mercedes-Benz in Ghana’s automotive market—and is now set to expand its network even further.

The Port of Beira, Mozambique, is playing a major role in the nation’s economic growth by delivering a cost-effective service for the region’s land-locked states.