Business

Irish software company Enverian has announced what it says is a landmark partnership agreement with renewable energy developer Mainstream Renewable Power. The deal will see all of Mainstream’s onshore wind and solar energy portfolio being tracked, ranked, and valued using Enverian’s cloud-based Renewable Portfolio Manager application. The system has already been deployed and will be developed further for Mainstream in partnership with Enverian with the aim of bringing greater value and efficiencies to the organisation. According to Enverian, Renewable Portfolio Manager is the only solution in the market developed to help project managers, development executives, and chief financial officers in renewable energy companies maximise their investment by capturing real-time project…

Leitrim medical devices firm VistaMed is to create 79 new jobs as it invests €7.2m in research and development and the expansion of its production capacity. The investment, which is being supported by the government through Enterprise Ireland, will increase the company’s R&D activities to ensure continued growth in export sales and Irish employment and also expand its manufacturing facilities in Carrick-on-Shannon. Making the announcement this morning, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said it is a significant day for the Irish economy. “As I have said before, in order to create the jobs we so badly need we must not only deliver high levels of multinational investment, but also create…

US medical giant ResMed buys UCD spin-out in all-cash deal San Diego-headquartered medical device manufacturer ResMed has acquired UCD spin-out BiancaMed in an all-cash deal. Original investors including DFJ ePlanet Capital and Enterprise Ireland are believed to receive a significant premium on their €11m investment in the company. BiancaMed is one of an emerging generation of young Irish medical device companies who are developing breakthrough technologies. It has developed a contactless, accurate device to measure sleep and breathing and combat deaths arising from the sleep disorder sleep apnea. Dr Philip de Chazal, Dr Conor Hanley and Prof Conor Heneghan founded the company in 2003 to commercialise research that emerged from the UCD…

Cancer researcher Prof William Gallagher has today been presented with the NovaUCD 2011 Innovation Award in recognition of his ongoing successes in the commercialisation of intellectual property coming out of UCD research programmes. Gallagher, who is a research in UCD’s School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, received the award today from UCD president Dr Hugh Brady. A major focus of his research at UCD has been on the identification and validation of candidate biomarkers – which indicate the therapeutic response of patients to treatments – of breast cancer and melanoma and the conversion of his research results into clinically relevant assays or tests which can help to improve the quality-of-life…

Aramark wins €400k facilities management contract with Enterprise IrelandAidan Bell, MD of Aramark Workplace Solutions Aramark Ireland has won a four-year contract worth over €400,000 a year to provide facilities management services to Enterprise Ireland. Its workplace solutions division will provide reception, security, cleaning and general maintenance services across the Enterprise Ireland site in East Point Business Park on Dublin’s northside. This is the first time that Enterprise Ireland has engaged with a facilities management provider to combine such outsourced services. The new deal will be in addition to Aramark’s existing contracts with other government agencies including Fáilte Ireland, An Bord Pleanála, Office of Public Works, European Commission and the Broadcasting Authority…

In some very good news for the Irish jobs sector, pharma company Amgen has today announced it is to buy Pfizer’s manufacturing facility at Dun Laoghaire. The 37,000-sq-m Pfizer aseptic operations facility employs 280 people and the buyer intends to retain employees and expand the site’s capabilities over time. About 240 employees will transfer to Amgen while another 40 will remain employed by Pfizer as part of the deal. “As we expand internationally, the Dublin site will help us deliver a growing supply of Amgen medicines for patients worldwide,” said Madhu Balachandran, senior vice president, Amgen Manufacturing . “We are impressed with the technical expertise and commitment to excellence demonstrated by the…

Facilities management, food and property provider Aramark Ireland has created 17 new jobs following the integration of Sligo-based Lotus Facilities Management (FM), which was acquired by Aramark in 2013. Since the acquisition, Aramark has doubled the Lotus FM workforce to 34 people, most of whom are based in the north west.

Seán Quinn’s son and nephew sentence to three months in jail Pictured: Seán Quinn snr The son and nephew of businessman Seán Quinn have been sentenced to three months in prison for contempt of court. Justice Elizabeth Dunne made orders today to jail Seán Quinn jnr and Peter Darragh Quinn for trying to hide assets from the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), which was formerly Anglo Irish Bank. The judge said Sean Quinn snr was not being jailed so he would have time to comply with the court orders and to reverse asset stripping measures. Earlier today, a warrant was issued for Peter Darragh Quinn’s arrest when he failed to attend court this morning for sentencing. The judge…

UK business services outsourcing group Capita plc has bought Cork-headquartered SouthWestern Business Process Services Ltd from private equity group Ion Equity for €35m. SouthWestern provides customer relationship management, financial shared services, data processing and inspectorate services to private and public sector organisations from offices in Ireland, the UK and Poland. Its clients include the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine, Bord Gáis, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Bord Bia , Eircom and Failte Ireland. It employs around 1,000 employees, primarily based across three sites in Co Cork, and one in Lodz, Poland, together with smaller operations in Dublin and Milton Keynes. The company is forecasting an operating profit…