LATEST UK–JAPAN REPORTS
Budget Airline Orders Engines Rolls-Royce plc will provide Japan’s Skymark Airlines Inc. with engines, the Daily Telegraph reported on 18 December. The £617mn agreement with the low-cost airline includes the supply of six Airbus A380 aircraft with Trent 900 engines, as well as responsibility for their long-term maintenance. The British manufacturing firm has also signed a letter of intent to provide Skymark with Trent 700 engines for 10 Airbus A330 aeroplanes. Both aircraft will go into operation in 2014.
Rolls-Royce’s Trent 900 engines will be fitted in two Skymark Airlines’ aircraft.
Venture Capital Firm Backs Scheme In a bid to boost their worldwide growth plans, a Japanese venture capital organisation will help fund Bicycle Therapeutics Limited’s drug candidate selection programme, Business Weekly reported on 12 December. The Cambridge-based next-generation biotherapeutics technology firm will use the £3.75mn acquired from Astellas Venture Management LLC—the venture capital arm of Japan-based Astellas Pharma,
which was formed from the 2005 merger of Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical—to invest in drug discovery projects in oncology, as well as metabolic and inflammatory diseases using their bicyclic peptide technology platform. In addition, the UK firm is planning to make the platform accessible for collaborative discovery together with pharmaceutical partners.
Carmaker to Invest in North-east Nissan Motor Co., Ltd will invest £250mn The new model marks the first time in its Sunderland plant, the BBC said in a Nissan has made a car in the UK that will 19 December report. be exported to the US. The manufacturer will add about 280 jobs at the UK factory, which was awarded production of a new model of the Infiniti brand because of its reputation for efficiency. Another 700 jobs will be created with suppliers. Initial production of the small luxury car, based on Nissan’s Infiniti Ethera concept, will be completed in 2014 and the vehicle will be the first in the Infiniti range to be offered with a diesel engine. The new small vehicle will be based on Nissan’s Infiniti Ethera concept car.
10 | BCCJ ACUMEN | JANUARY 2013
Firm Lands Key Contract A UK-based solutions technology specialist has secured a deal with Daifuku Co., Ltd., Business Weekly reported on 11 December. In one of its most significant agreements, Ubisense Group plc’s location solutions will be integrated into the Japanese industrial giant’s material handling and warehouse management system. The new arrangement will provide location solutions to manufacturing and logistics firms needing greater visibility and better control of their processes.
Deal to Help Cut Fuel Bills Greater Manchester has signed an agreement with a Japanese government agency— the Department of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization—that will enable an initial 300 homes to generate electricity using low carbon heat units and a remote smart grid management system, according to a 1 December Manchester Evening News report. The £20mn pilot project is expected to reduce fuel bills for those Greater Manchester residents and, if successful, may be rolled out to thousands of properties across the region. Backed by the UK government, the project is set to be launched in 2014.