VF Corporation, the apparel business best known for its Wrangler brand, is to acquire The Timberland Company to create a $10 billion global apparel and footwear powerhouse.

The two companies signed a definitive merger agreement today under which VF will pay Timberland shareholders $43 per share, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $2 billion. The merger agreement was unanimously approved by both companies' boards of directors.

Copper producer Kazakhmys has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the China Development Bank for a $1.5 billion loan.

The money will be used to develop the company’s major copper project at Aktogay in Kazakhstan.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has agreed to sell its global wire business to Hyosung Corporation, a multinational corporation with substantial tire reinforcement operations, for $50 million.

The business manufactures tire reinforcement wire in Asheboro, North Carolina, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, employing around 600 people.

Goodyear and Hyosung will also sign a multi-year supply agreement upon closing, which is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2011.

Gold mining company Pan African Resources has reported “encouraging” results from its drilling programme at a tailings dam at Barberton Mines in South Africa.

The drilling, on the Bramber tailings dam, revealed a resource of 148,000oz at a grade of 1.47g per ton in situ—a relatively high grade for a tailings dam.

General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics, has been awarded a task order through the US General Services Administration's Alliant Contract to support the relocation of the US Department of Homeland Security's headquarters.

The task order has a ceiling value of $876 million and duration of seven years if all options are exercised.

Car maker BMW is to invest £500 million in its UK production network, it has been announced.

The company has said it will invest £500 million in UK manufacturing operations over the next three years and has also confirmed that the UK will be a production location for its next generation MINI models.

This takes the company’s investment across all its UK operations to more than £1.5 billion since 2000.

Mazda Motor Corporation has said it will build its next midsize automobile entirely in Japan, rather than the United States.

Its current midsize model Mazda6 (known as Atenza in Japan) is produced in three locations, the Hofu Plant in Japan, AutoAlliance International (AAI) in Michigan, USA, and at FAW Car Co., Ltd. in Changchun, Jilin province, China.

The company said it would continue to make the Mazda6 in the US “until the end of its current cycle plan” but that its successor would be made in Hofu.

Greek company Raycap has announced the completion of its new photovoltaic power generation facility in Drama, north-eastern Greece.

The new plant, one of the largest solar power plants in northern Greece, is equipped with 18,200 high-efficiency thin-film solar panels, while two 800kW central inverters ensure efficient and reliable power distribution to the grid. The plant is expected to generate two million KWh per annum.

Thomas R. Cutler investigates the role of automated guided vehicles and the need for independent experts to facilitate their implementation in food and consumer packaged goods.

Suppliers of end-of-line automation and material handling in the food sector have a distinct scope of technology to consider, including various types of palletizing robots, stretch wrapping equipment, labeling systems, pallet control systems, and laser-guided automatic vehicles.

Corporate sabbaticals refresh tired executives, and are an underutilized strategic tool for improving bottom line results, says Rita Foley