Groupe Danone SA's trademark dispute with 11-year-old JV partner Hangzhou Wahaha Group has been ruled upon by the Hangzhou Arbitration Commission. The official verdict: Rights to the Wahaha brand name do not belong to the two firm's joint operations — Danone loses. Apparently, a trademark agreement that would have given rights to the JV had expired. Danone disagrees with this finding.
France's Danone has claimed 
BP plc is moving into Canadian oil sands, acquiring a half share in the Sunrise field in Alberta operated by Husky Energy Inc. Husky will acquire a half share in BP's Toledo oil refinery in Ohio, thereby forming an integrated North American oil sands business. Two independent 50-50 joint ventures will be formed from the equally valued assets to own and develop the businesses. Joint investment up to 2012 is estimated at around $3 billion in Alberta, while Toledo will get $2.5 billion.
This article states that the deal marks a turnaround from the old BP strategy of former head John Browne, who shunned the oil sands as being too costly. New chief executive Tony Hayward calls "Sunrise the ideal entry point for BP into Canadian oil sands." Only time will tell if Hayward's jump into the oil sands business will prove a fruitful strategy. — Baz Hiralal
Expansion-minded Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., the Pittsburgh-based chain with national ambitions, recently accelerated its drive into California by paying $71 million for Covina, Calif.-based Chick's Sporting Goods Inc. With only 15 stores, Chick's is a much smaller target than Golf Galaxy, for which Dick's paid $225 million in November 2006. But Dick's executives say they're getting good Los Angeles locations, plus local managers who know surfing and skating. For more on their reasoning, see 
The world's largest steel company, ArcelorMittal, has made its third acquisition in as many months in Latin America. Most recently, the firm said it 
Volvo Group has signed a letter of intent for a joint venture with India's Eicher Motors Ltd., combining Eicher's entire truck and bus operations with Volvo Group’s Indian truck-sales network. Volvo will inject $275 million into the JV; its truck dealer and service assets, valued at $75 million, bring the total investment to $350 million. The transaction is expected to be completed before July. Volvo will own 45.6% of the new company and plans to acquire 8.1% of Eicher Motors.
Germany's Daimler AG recently said it is partnered with an unidentified firm in India on joint production of heavy vehicles. Also in India, Nissan Motor and Ashok Leyland are investing $500 million to set up a vehicle manufacturing unit to target both the Indian and international markets, according to Forbes. — Baz Hiralal
British cellular firm Vodafone, which grabbed a majority stake in India's Hutchison Essar Ltd. for $10.9 billion in cash in May, just announced they signed an outsourcing deal with Armonk, N.Y-based IBM Corp. IBM is to take over all of the Indian JV's (Vodafone Essar Ltd.) information technology-related work. Deal terms were not disclosed, but the AP reported that a similar agreement IBM made with Idea Cellular, whose network and subscriber base is half that of Vodafone Essar, is expected to be worth between $600 million and $800 million over 10 years.
Separately today, IBM just received word from the European Commission on its proposed $745 million acquisition of Swedish software maker Telelogic AB. The EU suspended its review of the deal in late November pending the receipt of mor