Information services company Experian has found released its mergers and acquisitions and equity capital market data covering the second quarter of 2010. There were 119 announced transactions in the North West during the period, a fall of 14 per cent from the first quarter, while deal value fell 71 per cent to £1.165bn. Experian found that 12.5 per cent of UK deals announced in the second quarter had a North West element, with Liberum Capital named as the best performing financial adviser.

Manchester Energy Company (MECo), the delivery vehicle for an £11m Manchester City Council energy contract, has been sold along with parent company Powerminster Gleeson Services. The Gleeson Group has disposed of the pair for a combined £6.6m to fellow construction company Morgan Sindall Group. MECo provides energy services to 420 dwellings in the city including tower block installations, heat metering, heat exchangers, operations and maintenance.

The Co-operative Bank’s South Manchester Corporate Banking Centre has provided £500,000 for an entrepreneur to acquire a dental practice in Crewe. Stephanie Murray, who graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2009 as a dental hygienist and dental therapist, has bought the freehold and business assets of Cheshire Centre of Dental Excellence. The practice will retain its two qualified dentists and Murray plans to hire an additional dentist within the next three months.

Manchester law firm Pannone has opened a new office in London and made two partner appointments as it increases its presence in the capital. The new premises, located in the Jockey’s Fields area of the city, will house the firm’s regulatory team, which specialises in business crime, fraud and regulatory law. The office will be led by new partners Zia Ullah and Sara Teasdale. Anthony Barnfather, who leads Pannone’s regulatory team in Manchester, said it was a “natural extension” to have a full time presence in the capital.

Lloyds Banking Group has announced that it is cutting 650 jobs as it continues to streamline its operations. Insurance and back office-based staff in its Chester and Nottingham sites will bear the brunt of the redundancies. Approximately 535 are set to go in Chester. Lloyds will also close its network of Halifax-branded agencies, affecting approximately 1,850 jobs. Cath Speight, national officer at the union Unite, said: “The growing tally of 17,700 job losses since the formation of the bank is disgraceful.”

An independent report carried out by Ekosgen and Lambert Smith Hampton has found that the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s (NWDA) return on overseas inward investment is on target to be £30 for every £1 spent by 2013. Between April 2006 and March 2009, the NWDA invested £3.5m on overseas projects that have so far generated more than £56m in GVA. The report found that this figure could be as much as £104m in three years when all of the foreign direct investment activity has fully matured.

Winning Pitch, a Manchester training company, has announced its intention to withdraw from the PLUS market. Since the company’s shares were entered onto the exchange they have been traded just eight times, with no transaction since September 2009 leading the board to believe it will be better as a private company. The company also announced that turnover has doubled to £2m in the year to 26 March, with gross profits up from £341,000 to £543,400.

Manchester City Council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein has joined Manchester Business School’s (MBS) 12-strong leadership board. The board was founded two years ago to help drive the school’s strategic development plans. Other board members include Tony DeNunzio, chairman of Maxeda and Pets at Home, and Bob Herz, chairman of the US Financial Accounting Standards Board. Michael Luger, the dean of MBS, said Bernstein would be a “significant asset” to the board.

Manchester-based Champion Accountants has launched a new division to meet a growing demand for specialist insurance advice. Champion Insurance Brokers will be led by new managing director Dan Maloney who has moved from CCG Insurance Brokers in Stockport to take the role. He will be responsible for growing the new division, which will specialise in commercial and corporate insurances for the small business market.

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Cheshire-based Pochin Construction has been awarded a £2.5m contract to construct a new vocational college building at The University of Chester’s Kingsway Campus. The new building will provide 16,350 sq ft of space over three storeys, including 2,960 sq ft of exhibition space on the ground floor. Pochin will also demolish the existing classrooms and storage building at the site.

Salford developer LPC Living has submitted plans to build a new 156-bedroom hotel in Ordsall having formally agreed terms with budget hotel brand Travelodge. The planning application will look to replace an approved eight storey block of apartments at the Radclyffe Park site. Planning consent has already been granted for a Morrisons supermarket, 25,000 sq ft of additional retail and 282 new homes. The total number of residential units is reduced to 114 with a greater emphasis placed on family housing.

A 2,730 sq ft space at Paramount Business Park in Huyton has been let to West Lancashire Freemasons Charity. Mason Owen and Colliers CRE are joint agents on the premises, which are the former offices of Irish property developer Braidwater. Andrew Owen, head of business space at Mason Owen, said: “Despite continued uncertainty within the marketplace, many companies are now realising that life goes on and are therefore taking a longer term approach to their business and property requirements.”

Optegra UK, an ophthalmic specialist, has taken the ground floor of the One Didsbury Point development. The company has taken a 15-year lease on 13,450 sq ft of space at £18 per sq ft. Countryside Properties and Liberty Property Trust, the joint venture partners, have now let two floors of the building. Knight Frank and P3 acted on behalf of the developer while Hurst Warne represented Optegra UK.

The Manchester office of Colliers International has appointed Neil Thomson as a director in its hotels agency team, which covers the North West and North Wales. He previously worked for Christie & Co and has more than 21 years’ experience. Mike Walker, head of the company’s Manchester office, said Thomson would be a “valuable asset” to the expanding team.