The new company, to be called ChiquitaFyffes, will be worth around $1 billion and will sell approximately 160 million boxes of bananas annually. As part of the merger shareholders will receive shares in each firm, with Fyffes shareholders owning about 49.3 percent of the combined company.

"This is a milestone transaction for Chiquita and Fyffes that brings together the best of both companies," said Chiquita boss Ed Lonergan. He added that the deal will help the US company save costs and expand the areas it serves.

1. The seven year economic cycle is a dead concept

Vale's Clydach Refinery, one of the largest in Europe, has become the first company in the UK and only the second in Europe over in the 25 years since the awards were inaugurated, to be awarded the prize, dubbed the "Nobel Prize of Manufacturing" by Business Week.

The deal between Cerberus Capital Management, which owns several chains including Albertsons, and Safeway has been valued at approximately $7.64 billion in cash, however this could eventually increase to more than $9 billion.

Bob Miller, chief executive of Albertsons, said that the size of the new outfit would improve its bargaining position with suppliers. The merger will create an organisation boasting more than 2,400 stores and 250,000 employees.

The two diamonds, the 162.02 carat type II diamond and the 161.31 carat type I, were both recovered from the company’s Letšeng mine in Lesotho at the end of January 2014 and sold for $11.1 million and $2.4 million respectively.

In a press release the company noted that the two rough diamonds both achieved top prices, in accordance with their respective colour, clarity and expected  polished yield, at Letšeng’s February tender.

CG/LA Infrastructure Inc, which specialises in strategic infrastructure project identification, yesterday announced the recipients of its sought-after awards. The awards honour the leaders driving the next generation’s most transformative global infrastructure projects in five categories: strategic, finance, engineering, job creation, and green/new infrastructure.

BFL CANADA is a no-nonsense insurance brokerage and risk management firm, founded by Barry F Lorenzetti in 1987 and now the largest employee-owned and operated commercial insurance broker and consulting services firm in the country, with offices in nine major cities from Vancouver in the west to Halifax in the east. Though BFL is active in upward of 20 vertical business sectors, one of the most important of these is mining, mineral processing and exploration.