CRUSH Alerts 2.0 - New Fortune 1000 Mergers and Acquisitions Announcements

CVC sells Paperbox Holdings to Japan s Oji (at Reuters)

Friday March 12th 2010 03:19:14 AM

Private equity fund CVC Partners has agreed to sell Paperbox Holdings Ltd to Japan s Oji Paper Co Ltd for an undisclosed amount, Oji said on Friday.

EXFO Announces Acquisition of Global Wireless Test Specialist NetHawk Oyj

Friday March 12th 2010 03:05:00 AM

Visit StreetInsider.com at http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/EXFO+Announces+Acquisition+of+Global+Wireless+Test+Specialist+NetHawk+Oyj/5432641.html for the full story.

Hard to Treat Diseases (HTDS) Acquired Varicella Approval in Guatemala

Friday March 12th 2010 03:00:00 AM

Visit StreetInsider.com at http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/Hard+to+Treat+Diseases+%28HTDS%29+Acquired+Varicella+Approval+in+Guatemala/5432620.html for the full story.

Mobile telecoms operator MTS-Ukraine transforms talent acquisition and delivers substantial ROI with StepStone Solutions including annual savings of ?250,000

Friday March 12th 2010 02:19:00 AM

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MTS, the 8th largest mobile phone operator in the world and the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, servicing over 90 million subscribers, has implemented an online talent acquisition (e-recruitment) system from StepStone Solutions (OSE:STP)(LSE:STPS) at its MTS-Ukraine subsidiary. The implementation of StepStone Solutions Talent Acquisition helped transform the HR function in MTS-Ukraine, resulting in significant financial and business benefits, includi

CVC sells Paperbox Holdings to Japan's Oji

Friday March 12th 2010 02:13:33 AM

HONG KONG, March 12 (Reuters) - Private equity fund CVC Partners [CVC.UL] has agreed to sell Paperbox Holdings Ltd to Japan's Oji Paper Co Ltd for an undisclosed amount, Oji said on Friday.

Financial stocks push FTSE 100 higher (at Financial Times)

Friday March 12th 2010 02:04:01 AM

London shares opened a little higher on Friday, capping off one of the least volatile weeks of the year, amid a lively revival of merger and acquisition activity.

Norwegian fertilizer group Yara won't up bid for Terra after higher CF offer

Friday March 12th 2010 01:33:00 AM

The Canadian Press - OSLO, Norway - Norwegian fertilizer company Yara International ASA says it will not increase its offer to acquire U.S. competitor Terra Industries after Terra's board chose to favour a higher bid from CF Industries.

Report: Exxon could scuttle part of Devon-BP deal

Friday March 12th 2010 01:16:11 AM

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Part of the $7 billion deal between BP and Devon Energy could be scuttled by rivals should they want to exercise pre-emption rights over Azerbaijan assets worth an estimated $3 billion, The Times of London reported. Exxon Mobil , Chevron , StatoilHydro and Hess have preemption rights over the sale of Devon's stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli project, and they could sell the stake to a third party like Sinopec or CNOOC, the report said.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

Bayer healthcare unit says eyes takeovers in India

Friday March 12th 2010 01:11:15 AM

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Bayer , Germany's largest drugmaker, is looking for acquisitions to bolster its fledgling healthcare business in India, it said on Friday.

Hootsuite acquires developer Swift App to bolster its Android efforts

Friday March 12th 2010 01:00:31 AM

Fresh off its recent Android launch, Canadian social media startup HootSuite acquired developer Swift App to beef up its presence on Google’s mobile platform.

Sebastian Delmont, the developer behind Swift App, will join HootSuite as a mobile adviser. His company built a Twitter client of the same name for Android phones (the first picture below). Neither company released terms of the deal.

HootSuite builds products that let people and businesses manage their presences across multiple social networks. Compared to other startups in the space like Brizzly, HootSuite has a more explicit focus on enterprise use and caters to marketers and businesses. The Android app they launched a week ago (pictured at the bottom) lets users update multiple Twitter profiles, do real-time search, track keywords and check out analytics for messages they send out.

HootSuite also had a unique addition to its Android app: it began offered ads in-stream through a partnership with 140 Proof. The company plans to integrate Facebook status updates into its Android client soon.

Tags: Social Media, Twitter

Companies: hootsuite, swift app

Fresh off its recent Android launch, Canadian social media startup HootSuite acquired developer Swift App to beef up its presence on Google’s mobile platform.

Sebastian Delmont, the developer behind Swift App, will join HootSuite as a mobile adviser. His company built a Twitter client of the same name for Android phones (the first picture below). Neither company released terms of the deal.

HootSuite builds products that let people and businesses manage their presences across multiple social networks. Compared to other startups in the space like Brizzly, HootSuite has a more explicit focus on enterprise use and caters to marketers and businesses. The Android app they launched a week ago (pictured at the bottom) lets users update multiple Twitter profiles, do real-time search, track keywords and check out analytics for messages they send out.

HootSuite also had a unique addition to its Android app: it began offered ads in-stream through a partnership with 140 Proof. The company plans to integrate Facebook status updates into its Android client soon.

Tags: Social Media, Twitter

Companies: hootsuite, swift app

First details of Deus Ex 3 emerge

Friday March 12th 2010 12:51:54 AM

In the worldwide debut of both Eidos Montreal and its first project, Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution, art designer Jonathan Jacques-Belletete demonstrated how his team challenged status quo thinking by creating a visual language centered around two esoteric art styles, the the Renaissance and modern-day cyberpunk. He showed the first look at the third game in the award-winning series.

In the Game Developers Conference session entitled “Creating a Unique Visual Direction: The Successes and Failures of Creating a Near-Future Cyberpunk Setting with a Renaissance Twist,” Jacques-Belletete chronicled the first failed attempts at merging the two art styles directly, and by doing so detailed the re-birth of the series.

Warren Specter’s first game, Deus Ex, hit the PC in June 2000 to rave reviews. The series saw a sequel in 2003, Deus Ex: The Invisible War, which received distinctly lower review scores and matching lower sales. Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution is a prequel to the original due in 2010.

Deus Ex 3 is a first-person shooter/role-playing game that takes place before the events of the original title. It features changes to the series such as camera switches that move from the first- to third-person perspectives during special attacks and in cover situations. In an illustrative video showing environmental patterning and architecture, the screen displayed a temporary Dpad configuration showing the ability to turn lights on, teleport, exit, and unfreeze time. These are likely to have been place holder actions. The game also delivers new characters, weapons, environments, and character abilities.

Jacques-Belletete showed a Polaroid shot of the original five team members from May 25, 2007, followed by shots of a growing team that, in 2009, grew to 130 people. The Montreal team started the project with no pre-made software engine, no technology tools handed to them, no art bank from inner-company teams, and a studio not prepared to take on the size and scope of the project, he explained.

“My idea was to merge Renaissance and cyberpunk art styles together, which as you’ll see, didn’t turn out all that well at first.”

Drawing from traditional noire themes, night time, fog, smoke, and clutter, Jacques-Belletete also looked at  trans-humanism literature espousing the idea that humans “should” evolve with technology to improve the human condition. Reading books such as “The Singularity is Near” (by last year’s GDC keynote speaker futurist Ray Kurtzweil), “Radical Evolution,” “Citizen Cyborg,” and “More than Human,” and meeting multiple times with researcher Will Rossellini, the CEO of MicroTransponder, he sought to establish a universal visual voice for the project.

“I found that anonymous quote, ‘Don’t expect anything original from an echo,’” said Jacques-Belletete. “We didn’t just want to make a bigger, shinier version of the same old thing.”

He hired top designers Jim Murray (which drew Batman Vs. Judge Dredd), and Thierry Doizon (Barontieni), who pointedly disagreed with the idea of merging such distinctly different styles. “The first efforts just didn’t work. It created friction, and those guys hated me. The first efforts didn’t look credible or wearable.”

But Jacques-Belletete’s perseverance paid off. He showed 16 shots of military shooters, including Killzone, Turok, Fuel of War, Gear of War, and Dark Sector, among others, all of which looked strikingly the same to illustrate that realistic visuals don’t always work. “With such great technology and tools in the industry’s hands, you’d think these futuristic shooters would have vastly different art styles. But they don’t. By taking the realistic route versus an illustrative one, we wanted to avoid the Uncanny Valley. When you look at the characters in Heavy Rain–a great-game, mind you–those characters are just scary looking. They don?t look realistic at all?I’m sure I’m going to catch hell for this.”

Going back to the drawing board again, Jacques-Belletete reached out to modern day fashion, which merged eccentric shapes and styles in a variety of different ways, and which struck a chord with his team. Secondary and tertiary attempts at blending old and new styles took on a more subtle, less direct approach, and worked into clothing that looked like trendy fashion wear some would wear, he explained. “I’d wear those jackets,” he said to the crowd’s laughter.

Jacques-Belletete showed quick videos of lead characters Adam Jenson and Hass discussing the controversial shooting that caused irreparable damage to their team, displaying a dialogue tree that used Dpad choices on screen. He explained that once his team was able to see how modern fashion incorporated old and new styles into a singular whole, his team’s progress saw enormous progress with character outfits and designs, and after environment, architecture, and everything from window design to weaponry.

“To conclude, to create original art for a game like we did,” finished Jacques-Belletete,” you need to find a visual constant and to be as original as possible, to find your own visual voice to avoid creating just another echo.”

In the worldwide debut of both Eidos Montreal and its first project, Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution, art designer Jonathan Jacques-Belletete demonstrated how his team challenged status quo thinking by creating a visual language centered around two esoteric art styles, the the Renaissance and modern-day cyberpunk. He showed the first look at the third game in the award-winning series.

In the Game Developers Conference session entitled “Creating a Unique Visual Direction: The Successes and Failures of Creating a Near-Future Cyberpunk Setting with a Renaissance Twist,” Jacques-Belletete chronicled the first failed attempts at merging the two art styles directly, and by doing so detailed the re-birth of the series.

Warren Specter’s first game, Deus Ex, hit the PC in June 2000 to rave reviews. The series saw a sequel in 2003, Deus Ex: The Invisible War, which received distinctly lower review scores and matching lower sales. Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution is a prequel to the original due in 2010.

Deus Ex 3 is a first-person shooter/role-playing game that takes place before the events of the original title. It features changes to the series such as camera switches that move from the first- to third-person perspectives during special attacks and in cover situations. In an illustrative video showing environmental patterning and architecture, the screen displayed a temporary Dpad configuration showing the ability to turn lights on, teleport, exit, and unfreeze time. These are likely to have been place holder actions. The game also delivers new characters, weapons, environments, and character abilities.

Jacques-Belletete showed a Polaroid shot of the original five team members from May 25, 2007, followed by shots of a growing team that, in 2009, grew to 130 people. The Montreal team started the project with no pre-made software engine, no technology tools handed to them, no art bank from inner-company teams, and a studio not prepared to take on the size and scope of the project, he explained.

“My idea was to merge Renaissance and cyberpunk art styles together, which as you’ll see, didn’t turn out all that well at first.”

Drawing from traditional noire themes, night time, fog, smoke, and clutter, Jacques-Belletete also looked at  trans-humanism literature espousing the idea that humans “should” evolve with technology to improve the human condition. Reading books such as “The Singularity is Near” (by last year’s GDC keynote speaker futurist Ray Kurtzweil), “Radical Evolution,” “Citizen Cyborg,” and “More than Human,” and meeting multiple times with researcher Will Rossellini, the CEO of MicroTransponder, he sought to establish a universal visual voice for the project.

“I found that anonymous quote, ‘Don’t expect anything original from an echo,’” said Jacques-Belletete. “We didn’t just want to make a bigger, shinier version of the same old thing.”

He hired top designers Jim Murray (which drew Batman Vs. Judge Dredd), and Thierry Doizon (Barontieni), who pointedly disagreed with the idea of merging such distinctly different styles. “The first efforts just didn’t work. It created friction, and those guys hated me. The first efforts didn’t look credible or wearable.”

But Jacques-Belletete’s perseverance paid off. He showed 16 shots of military shooters, including Killzone, Turok, Fuel of War, Gear of War, and Dark Sector, among others, all of which looked strikingly the same to illustrate that realistic visuals don’t always work. “With such great technology and tools in the industry’s hands, you’d think these futuristic shooters would have vastly different art styles. But they don’t. By taking the realistic route versus an illustrative one, we wanted to avoid the Uncanny Valley. When you look at the characters in Heavy Rain–a great-game, mind you–those characters are just scary looking. They don?t look realistic at all?I’m sure I’m going to catch hell for this.”

Going back to the drawing board again, Jacques-Belletete reached out to modern day fashion, which merged eccentric shapes and styles in a variety of different ways, and which struck a chord with his team. Secondary and tertiary attempts at blending old and new styles took on a more subtle, less direct approach, and worked into clothing that looked like trendy fashion wear some would wear, he explained. “I’d wear those jackets,” he said to the crowd’s laughter.

Jacques-Belletete showed quick videos of lead characters Adam Jenson and Hass discussing the controversial shooting that caused irreparable damage to their team, displaying a dialogue tree that used Dpad choices on screen. He explained that once his team was able to see how modern fashion incorporated old and new styles into a singular whole, his team’s progress saw enormous progress with character outfits and designs, and after environment, architecture, and everything from window design to weaponry.

“To conclude, to create original art for a game like we did,” finished Jacques-Belletete,” you need to find a visual constant and to be as original as possible, to find your own visual voice to avoid creating just another echo.”

Hufvudstaden Acquires Two Properties in Central Gothenburg

Friday March 12th 2010 12:16:00 AM

STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News: Hufvudstaden has in Gothenburg acquired the properties Inom Vallgraven 12:1 and 12:9, which have a prime commercial location on Fredsgatan, next to the NK department store. The seller is Alecta Pension Insurance, Mutual. The purchase sum is SEK 175 million and the completion date is March 30, 2010. The total rentable floor space is approximately 4,100 square metres, comprising 1,700 square metres of office space, 1,500 square metres of retaili

Li3 Energy Closes Acquisition of Next Lithium Assets at Big Smoky Valley, Nevada

Friday March 12th 2010 12:01:00 AM

LIMA, PERU--(Marketwire - March 12, 2010) -  Li3 Energy, Inc. (OTCBB: LIEG) ("Li3 Energy" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has closed its previously announced agreement to acquire the assets of Next Lithium Corp. ("Next Lithium").

Acquisition and Fundraising

Thursday March 11th 2010 11:00:00 PM

<pre>12 March 2010 DATUM INTERNATIONAL LIMITED (PLUS-quoted: DATP) Acquisition of Bristol based document & data capture company Fundraising of c. £1m (before expenses) at 6p Datum International Limited ("Datum" or the "Company"), the software company specialising in the development, supply, implementation and support of their Enterprise Content Management ("ECM") Solution KnowledgeWorker®, announces that it has raised GBP 1,003,000 and acquired, conditional on payment of the consideration, Root3 Limited ("Root3"), a Bristol based document capture business for an initial consideration of GBP 600,000. About Root3 Root3 is a Bristol based

Deepwell Announces Potential Acquisition

Thursday March 11th 2010 10:16:00 PM