Peabody Energy today announced the completion of its acquisition of Macarthur Coal Limited, and has notified the Australian Securities Exchange to delist Macarthur.

Peabody is the world's largest private-sector coal company, with 28 surface and underground mines across the United States and Australia.

A Balfour Beatty joint venture has been awarded a £414 million contract by Bord Gais Networks in the Republic of Ireland.

The infrastructure group, along with CLG Developments Ltd, was awarded the nine-year contract for the installation and maintenance of vital gas transmission and distribution networks across Ireland, including the delivery of new construction, emergency response and planned maintenance services.

Work will begin early in the New Year, Balfour Beatty said.

IBM today unveiled the sixth annual "IBM 5 in 5", a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and interact during the next five years.

This year's five in five are:
People power will come to life
You will never need a password again
Mind reading is no longer science fiction
The digital divide will cease to exist and
Junk mail will become priority mail.

The IBM 5 in 5 is based on market and societal trends as well as emerging technologies from IBM's research labs around the world.

Iran’s Petroleum Engineering and Development Company has signed a deal with Russia’s Tatneft to develop the dormant Zagheh heavy oil field in Iran.

Zagheh is located 25 kilometres from the port city of Deilam.

The deal, which was signed yesterday, will bring production capacity at the oil field to 7,000 barrels per day in the first phase and 55,000 in the second phase.

The first well of the oil field, which was drilled many years ago, had been abandoned; however there are now plans to gain more accurate data on the heavy oil field.

Chilean mining operator Cerro Grande Mining Corporation has reported record financial results for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2011.

Revenues from gold, copper and silver sales came in at US $24,289,000 compared to US $10,959,000 in the same period last year. Net earnings were a positive US $3,425,000 compared to a negative (US $5,248,000) last year.

US-based high tech multinational United Technologies Corp has said it expects profits to rise by 6 to 10 percent in 2012.

During a meeting with investors and analysts Thursday, chairman & chief executive officer Louis Chênevert reaffirmed the company’s expectation for 2011 earnings per share of $5.47 on sales of approximately $58 billion.

For UTC’s base business, excluding the impact of the $16.5 billion acquisition of Goodrich Corp, Chênevert also projected 2012 earnings per share of $5.80 to $6.00, up 6 to 10 percent.

AHEB Investment Group and Quicksilver Project Management have formed a joint venture to create the largest biomass-to-energy installation in the world as part of a new UK eco-park.

The Centre of Excellence Eco-Park, based on a sustainable ecological design, will be spread across 300 acres of land and boast a large waste-to-energy facility in addition to the world's largest aquaponics installation.

After completing the acquisition of Bucyrus earlier this year, Caterpillar is selling part of the former Bucyrus distribution business to the Industrial Division of Malaysian-based multinational Sime Darby Berhad.

The transaction, valued at approximately $360 million, involves the Sime Darby Industrial Cat dealerships operated by Hastings Deering in Queensland and the Northern Territory of Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia.

UK manufacturer Avingtrans has been awarded a £3 million, three-year contract to supply rigid pipe assemblies to a market leader in the provision of flight controls.

Sigma Precision Components, a unit within Avingtrans' Aerospace division, has won the contract to deliver rigid pipe assemblies to a customer supplying clients across the aerospace and defence sectors, including Boeing.

Avingtrans manufactures components and provides associated services to the medical, energy, industrial and global aerospace sectors.

US states are spending billions per year on corporate tax credits, grants and other economic development subsidies that often require little if any job creation, according to a study published today.

These are the key findings of Money for Something: Job Creation and Job Quality Standards in State Economic Development Subsidy Programs, a study published today by Good Jobs First, a non-profit research center based in Washington, DC.