A round up of today's other stories in brief...
Swedish firm buys Aervent for €7.36m
Swedish firm Lindab has acquired Aervent, an Irish supplier of products and services for ventilation systems, for €7.36 million.
Aervent employs about 30 staff at offices in Dublin and Cork. In the year to the end of June last, it had sales of €12 million and an operating profit of €0.9 million.
The acquisition will make Lindab the leading provider of ventilation products in the Irish market.
The Swedish supplier of sheet metal to the construction industry said it was keen to enter the fast growing Irish market.
Analysts Euroconstruct are predicting that the non-residential construction market here will grow at around 10 per cent for the next three years.
"We are delighted to enter the thriving Irish market, which is a new market for us," says Kjell Åkesson, chief executive of Lindab Group.
Stockholm-listed Lindab employs 5,000 staff in 29 countries and had revenue of about €825 million in 2006.
According to documents filed at the Companies Office, the main beneficiaries of the sale will be ACT Nominees, a vehicle for ACT Venture Capital. ACT has funded a number of technology start-ups as well as Channel 6 and TV3.
Court go-ahead for Depfa merger
The High Court has cleared the way for the €5 billion merger of Dublin-based Depfa Bank plc with German property investment bank Hypo Real Estate in what is the largest ever corporate acquisition in Ireland.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday approved a scheme of arrangement for the merger.
The cash and shares deal will result in 180 staff from Hypo moving to Depfa's Dublin headquarters, where 300 people are employed. The Dublin base is to become the centre for the enlarged Hypo group's public sector financing division.
Defined pension schemes decline
The percentage of companies offering defined benefit pension schemes has fallen sharply from 67 per cent in 2002 to 37 per cent this year, according to new research published yesterday.
The survey of 132 companies carried out on behalf of the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF), found that 39 per cent of respondents have now closed their defined benefit schemes to new employees.
The reduction in the number of defined benefit schemes has been offset by improved funding of defined contribution schemes. Seventy per cent of respondent companies said they contributed 5 per cent or more of members' salaries to the schemes, compared to a figure of 46 per cent when the survey was last carried out in 2002.
IN&M subsidiary issues €134m notes
Independent News & Media's (IN&M) New Zealand subsidiary has agreed to issue NZ$250 million (€134 million) of convertible notes. The notes, which can be converted at any stage into IN&M shares will be redeemed in 2017. The funds will be used to redeem €125 million worth of guaranteed subordinated notes issued by IN&M that fall due next year.
Credit unions' head to resign
Liam O'Dwyer is to resign as chief executive officer of the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) at the end of the year. The board of the ILCU said Mr O'Dwyer, "has decided for personal and family reasons not to extend his five-year contract with the ILCU".
