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Peel raises stake in UK Coal
Peel has increased its stake in UK Coal from 20 to 26 per cent in a move likely to add to speculation about a possible takeover. UK Coal has revealed that Goodweather Holdings, a member of the Peel Group of Companies, bought 40,883,000 shares in UK Coal at 1p each. However, UK Coal pointed out that Peel has been a significant stakeholder in the business for many years. In Yorkshire Peel is best known for owning Robin Hood Airport and a handful of business parks along the M1 corridor. Peel was last rumoured to be mounting a takeover of UK Coal in 2006 when it held 7 per cent of the company.
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Yorkshire and Barnsley to merge
Fears of possible £10m losses from being exposed to failed Icelandic banks has forced the Barnsley Building Society to agree to a merger with the larger Yorkshire Building Society. The Barnsley, which was tipped as the next likely takeover target in October’s Insider, says the £10m write-off it might have been forced to make on deposits in Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander and Heritable Banks could easily have been met by its reserves, but the board felt it was in the building society’s long-term interests to agree to a merger. Acting chief executive Steve Mitchell said the society had been “consistent in proactively managing its exposure to the financial markets by spreading its risk across a variety of institutions”, but he said the “exceptional situation in Iceland was beyond anticipation”. 
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Sheffield business leaders chosen for panel
Sheffield business leaders who want to have their say in Sheffield City Council’s Business Advisor’s Panel will be chosen after applications close at the end of this week. The panel, which will be made up of 20 people from Sheffield’s business community, will meet quarterly and advise the council on decisions affecting business in the city. It will include representatives from all business sectors in the city, whatever size.
Yorkshire grant funding to address poor R&D record
Yorkshire and Humber businesses invest only one third of the national average in research and development, Yorkshire Forward told businesses as it launched a new wave of industrial R&D grant funding (IRD) worth £24.4m. This is why it is the only regional development agency in the UK to offer the IRD, said John Millar, Yorkshire Forward’s R&D grant manager. Businesses have until 21 November 2008 to outline plans for up to 50 per cent funding. The plans must include a collaboration led by a Yorkshire-based, or soon to be Yorkshire-based, company and be for a big idea that will take the company to the next level. A similar scheme is being launched for small and medium-sized businesses in November.
SCRIB launched to save steel
Corus subdivision Corus Steel Packaging Recycling has launched a campaign to encourage the public to increase steel recycling by 15 per cent. The Steel Can Recycling Information Bureau (SCRIB) will educate children on what is recycleable steel packaging and how to recycle it. In 2007 56 per cent of steel packaging – 382,664 tonnes – was recycled. Although the value of steel scrap is dropping, the cost per tonne of scrap steel is still large, and recycling one tonne of steel cans saves 1.5 tonnes of iron ore, 0.5 tonnes of coal and 40 per cent water usage.
Fujitsu stocks World Snooker Academy
Global IT company Fujitsu, whose Fujitsu Siemens Computers IT Product Services operates centre in Sheffield, has donated laptop computers to the city’s World Snooker Academy. The laptops will be used by local schoolchildren who use the facility as a learning centre as well as overseas snooker players to keep in touch with friends and family in their home countries.
Insider UK Investment Forum 2008
After the huge success of last year’s inaugural event, Insider is heading to London again next month for the Insider UK Investment Forum 2008. This year’s event is entitled How UK Cities Can Create Competitive Advantage and will feature an exclusive presentation by Prof Michael Parkinson on the impact of the credit crunch on UK regeneration projects. To be held over lunch at the Hotel Andaz in London on 7 November, the forum marks the launch of the UK Business Insider 2009 title, our guide to the UK regions, and will feature a panel including Chris Brown, chief executive of Igloo Regeneration and Ken Shuttleworth, director of Make architects. If you are interested in attending this event or would like further details please email helen.power@newsco.com.
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Capita Hartshead HQ to finish in 2010
Work has started on Capita Hartshead’s 61,500 sq ft headquarters on Sheffield Parkway at the junction between the Parkway and the inner relief road. Developer Towers Investments expects to complete the headquarters, which will accommodate up to 675 staff, in January 2010.
AESSEAL gets US base
Rotherham mechanical seal manufacturer AESSEAL's facility in Knoxville, Tennessee in the United States has been completed. The project, designed by Sheffield-based architects Race Cottam, involved the conversion of a former cutlery works.
Wakefield asks permission for Barnsley pit scheme
Wakefield Council is submitting plans for a £5m reclamation scheme at the former Royston Drift Mine and Rabbit Ings tip in Barnsley. The scheme, funded by English Partnership’s National Coalfields Programme and supported by Yorkshire Forward and Wakefield First, will include sports pitches and recreational land on the 71-hectare site, which has been derelict since the mine closed in 1989. The land became part of Barnsley borough in 1993 but Wakefield maintained ownership of the site.
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Sheffield law firms make commercial property appointments
Paul Gibbon has joined the Sheffield office of Keeble Hawson as a commercial property partner. The former partner of Wake Smith & Tofields has particular expertise in investment acquisitions and disposals, commercial landlord and tenant, development site acquisition and secured lending. DLA Piper has also appointed Mark Greenhalgh to its Sheffield office’s real estate team. Greenhalgh worked in London for eight years and will focus on property litigation and dispute resolution.
New man for Powerminster
Refurbishment and maintenance contractor Powerminster Gleeson Services has appointed quantity surveyor Steve Toulson as bid manager in Sheffield. Toulson has spent the past 12 years working for construction companies including Gleeson Regeneration.
LSH promotes
Commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has promoted Chris Garlick to associate director at its Sheffield office. Garlick joined LSH in 2000 as a placement student and became a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2003.
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