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Catalan pharmaceutical company Almirall has announced on Tuesday it will buy Aqua Pharmaceuticals, an American company specialised in dermatological treatments. The $328 million transaction reflects the Catalan multinational’s strategy to diversify its activities, by establishing itself in a sector that will be a “key platform for growth”. Aqua Pharmaceuticals has a portfolio of well known brands for treating acne and skin rashes. This year the total sales of the American company’s products are expected to generate $127 million. According to a statement to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), Almirall intends to continue employing the same Aqua management team, to benefit from their experience in the U.S. market.

Multinational corporation T-Systems has officially unveiled one of its four operations centres at world level, based in Barcelona. The German company has invested €2.5 million in the centre, creating 170 new jobs in 2013. 350 more employees are expected to be hired in 2014, according to T-Systems. The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment, Felip Puig, who also attended the press conference, stressed that T-Systems is “one of the Catalan Government’s most valuable partners in the field of technology”. Puig added that the Catalan Executive and the German multinational had signed various agreements, lasting from 6 to 10 years, which were worth € 400 million and would generate 2,000 jobs.

Italian Investindustrial has sold 49.9 % of its stake in PortAventura amusement park to KKR, a US investment fund. With this operation Investindustrial has incorporated a long-term partner in the project, while making sure to be the majority shareholder with 50.1 %. The transaction will be effective in January 2014 and is only awaiting regulatory approvals. In the long-term strategy, PortAventura is looking for other agreements to broaden the range of leisure activities and develop further at international level. A few weeks ago it was made public that Investindustrial would join the BCN World project by building and managing 3,000 hotel rooms. Besides, it has been announced that the Cirque du Soleil would give daily shows in PortAventura from the summer of 2014.

Doctor Joan Massagué has been appointed Scientific Director of the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York , the world’s leading cancer research centre, which is part of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre. The Catalan scientist has been chosen by an international expert committee and will take office on the 1^st of January 2014. The President and CEO of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Craig B. Thomson, said that Massagué had been given the job for his “exemplarity as a scientist” and because he is an “international leader” in the study of metastasis and factors regulating cell growth. This announcement follows last year’s appointment of another Catalan Doctor, Josep Baselga, as the Physician-in-Chief of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre. Both Baselga and Massagué will continue to combine their responsibilities in New York with their research in Barcelona.

Researchers from Barcelona’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CMRB), the Catalan capital’s Hospital Clínic and the Salk Institute of California have successfully created three-dimensional renal structures which are virtually indistinguishable from embryonic kidneys. They have started creating kidney cells from human stem cells, and ultimately proven that these newly created cells could aggregate in vitro to form a “micro-kidney”. The team led by Juan Carlos Izpisúa, from the CMRB, said that this scientific breakthrough would facilitate the study of kidney diseases and enable scientists to work on new treatments. He added that this achievement was a great step towards developing therapies based on the use of stem cells.

Emin Capital will buy Barcelona’s Torre Agbar, designed by Jean Nouvel, for €150 million. North-American Hyatt will invest a further €35 million to transform the 145-metre-tall building into one of its grand luxe hotels. Grand Hyatt hotels – the US company’s luxury brand – tend to occupy iconic buildings in the world’s main business cities. The Agbar Tower has become one of the most emblematic buildings of the Catalan capital, with its blue and red lightening and bullet shape imitating a flame. Nouvel’s tower was unveiled in 2005 to host the main headquarters of the water distribution multinational Agbar. The Catalan multinational, which owns the 50,000-square-metre tower, will now look for another building in Barcelona to place the 700 people working in its central offices.

The Catalan pharmaceutical company Grífols, based in Greater Barcelona, has bought part of the diagnostics unit of Swiss multinational Novartis for $1,675 million. Grífols has acquired products and ‘in vitro’ technology applied to diagnoses in the fields of blood transfusion and immunology, along with a production plant in California and offices in the US, Switzerland and Hong Kong. With the acquisition, the Grífols Diagnostic Division will represent $1 billion, 20% of the Catalan group’s total revenues. Grífols is the world’s third largest company in the production of blood-plasma derivatives. In the first half of 2013, Grífols registered a profit of €182.2 million, an increase of 36.9% on the same period of 2012.

The rock star, who died on Sunday aged 71, participated in activities promoting Catalan culture and literature in the world. Lou Reed had stated on several occasions his admiration for some Catalan poets. The Velvet Underground founder worked with the Ramon Llull Institute (IRL) in two readings of Catalan Poetry in English. The first one took place in New-York in 2007 and the Punk icon Patti Smith as well as Reed’s life partner, the artist Laurie Anderson, also participated. The other was in Barcelona, in 2008, with only Lou Reed on stage. Some of the poems read were from Gabriel Ferrater, Perejaume, Enric Casasses, Maria Mercè Marçal and Miquel Martí i Pol.

The Catalan Government’s Ramon Margalef Prize was awarded to American oceanographer Sallie Watson for her research on marine biology. The President of the Catalan Executive, Artur Mas, praised the scientist for her discoveries, stating Watson was “the “most productive, charismatic and active searcher in the field of biologic oceanography and marine ecology”. Mas also underlined Catalonia’s growing influence on the international scientific stage, by stating that even though “it was a small country” Catalonia had transformed into an “international scientific centre of high calibre”.

Banc Sabadell has managed to integrate the entire network of Caixa Penedès’ branches in Catalonia and Aragón, as well as all the technological and operational platforms. With this last integration, Banc Sabadell has €170 billion in assets, around 6 million clients and 12% of Spain’s banking branches. This means that the Catalan bank is now the 4^th largest retail financial entity in Spain, after the Barcelona-based CaixaBank, Santander and BBVA. Banc Sabadell bought Caixa Penedès’ banking business in Catalonia and Aragón to Banco Mare Nostrum (BNM) in May. In only 5 months, Banc Sabadell has added 376 branches to its network, along with 545 million client registers and 900,000 clients. In the last year, the Catalan bank has doubled the size of its network, since it also integrated the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM) network.

The founder and CEO of technology company GFT announced that they will create 500 new jobs in Catalonia in the coming years. In an exclusive interview with the CNA, Ulrich Dietz, stated that he has “aggressive plans to increase the staff” in Greater Barcelona and Lleida. GFT  specialises in developing technological solutions for the banking and insurance sectors, with a turnover of €231 million in 2012. With several offices in Germany, the company is based in Stuttgart and is present in Brazil, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, US and UK. A quarter of GFT employees throughout the world are based in Catalonia. Most of them work in Greater Barcelona, which is the company’s “hub” for the European market. Dietz explained that he has plans to develop Lleida’s facilities, which currently employ 40 people, “significantly”.

Next March, L’Escolania de Montserrat, one of the oldest music schools in Europe and one of the most famous children’s choirs, will carry out its first ever tour in the United States. On the 13^th, 14^th and 16^th of March 2014 the choir will sing in concerts in the cities of New York, New Jersey and Washington, respectively. Following this landmark tour they will continue to offer performances throughout Catalonia and then they will begin the recording of their new album. The last time the choir group sang in the Americas was in January 2004 when they played in Puerto Rico. L’Escolania de Montserrat is based in the Benedictine abbey of Santa Maria de Montserrat, located in the centre of Catalonia, and has produced many prevalent composers and performers down the years.

Abertis has reported that they have sold London Luton Airport to a consortium made up of publicly-owned Spanish Airport Authority (AENA) – which will own 51% - and Axa Private Equity (49%). The deal is said to be worth €502 million. It was estimated that the asset would have brought in €141 million to the company’s revenue and €46 million to the EBITDA for 2013. The transaction is currently pending approval from the competition authorities, the Spanish Government and Luton Borough Council.  It is part of Abertis’s strategy to modify its portfolio in order to optimise its asset base. Abertis reported last week that it has also made an agreement with ACN & HAS Airports Worldwide for the sale of Stockholm Skavsta and Belfast International airports.

The Catalan pharmaceutical company posted a net profit of €182.2 million between January and June 2013, which represents an increase of 36.9% on the same period of 2012. 92.1% of Grífols sales are made abroad and this figure has reached €1.27 billion, up from 6.2% on the first half of last year. Total turnover stood at €1.38 billion, a 4.9% increase. Furthermore, between April and June, the multinational based in Greater Barcelona obtained its highest ever quarterly sales in absolute terms, which reached €697.1 million and represented a 7.2% increase on the same period of 2012. Last year, Grífols bought out its main competitor in the US, Telecaris, which made the Catalan company one of the main pharmaceutical companies in North America, particularly in the blood-derivate products.

For the first 6 months of 2013 the Catalan company Abertis has made a profit of €293, a 62% reduction on last year, according to a report issued by the company to the Spanish Stock Market Authority (CNMV). This year the company has increased its market share in Brazil and Chile and has received part of its income through the sale of its stake in Eutelsat. In spite of the reduction of net profit, the company’s EBITDA is up 23% on last year to €1.43 billion. Abertis specialises in three business areas: airports, toll roads and telecommunication infrastructures. 65% of the firms’ revenue comes from outside Spain.