Vienna Insurance Group has entered into an agreement with Erste Bank to acquire all of Erste Bank’s insurance operations in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Romania for a cash consideration of EUR 1.4 bln. A long-term distribution agreement has been entered into, giving Vienna Insurance Group access to Erste Bank’s extensive distribution network

Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp said on Thursday it would spend 72 bln yen ($729 mln) to build a new solar cell plant in Sakai, western Japan. Sharp said in July it would build the world’s largest solar cell plant by March 2010, along with a 380 bln yen liquid crystal display (LCD) panel

British business investment in the final three months of 2007 is now estimated to have risen sharply rather than fallen, revised official figures showed on Thursday. The Office for National Statistics said business investment rose 1.8% in the fourth quarter, taking it up 5.3% on the year. It was originally reported to have fallen 0.5%

British retail sales steadied in March, a survey indicated on Thursday, defying expectations of a decline as the credit crisis feeds through to households. The Confederation of British Industry said its distributive trade survey’s reported sales balance rose to +1 from -3 in February. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of -5 and

Bank of Cyprus Group announces that, following the appointment of Mr Charilaos Stavrakis as Minister of Finance of the Republic of Cyprus, the organizational structure of the Group’s Executive Management changes as follows Group Executive Management: Andreas Eliades, Group Chief Executive Officer Yiannis Kypri, Group Chief General Manager Group General Managers: Antonis Jacouris, Group General

Cyprus tourism revenue rose by 5.2% over the same period of the previous year in January-February 2008, reaching EUR 75.9 mln, compared with EUR 72.2 mln in the first two months of 2007 according to the Passengers’ Survey. This is comparable with tourist arrivals, which rose by 5.1% in the same period. In 2007 arrivals

The hotel and restaurant sector accounts for almost 10% of the workforce, according to the annual Hotels and Restaurants Statistics report published by the Statistical Service Cystat for the year 2006. Employment in restaurants and hotels increased by 5.9% in 2006 and reached 35,955 persons, or 9.4% of the total economically active population and 10.0%

JPMorgan Chase & Co executives have told Bear Stearns Cos employees they will integrate the firm’s prime brokerage and global trade processing businesses, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the situation. The newspaper called the moves among the easiest decisions for JPMorgan, which is buying Bear in a transaction now