A newsletter covering business and leisure in the
Meuse-Rhine Euroregion.
 

August 30, 2003

Issue: 69

ISSN: 1568-4180

FRANS MAAS H1 NET UP 14%
[BIZ: Venlo, August 29]
Limburg-based logistics giant, Frans Maas’ net profit rises 14% in first six months
• Turnover and gross margin stable
• Positive effect of implemented measuresFrans Maas realised a turnover of € 514.4 million in the first half...[more]

BIJENKORF FOR MAASTRICHT
[BIZ: Maastricht, August 28]
De Bijenkorf, a leading up-market Dutch department store, is opening its twelfth branch in Maastricht. De Bijenkorf is part of Royal Vendex KBB, the main nonfood retail trade company in the Netherlands. The new, 10,000m², Bijenkorf...[more]

FRANS MAAS STORK NOMINEE
[BIZ: Venlo, 28 August]
The Supervisory Board of Limburg-based Koninklijke Frans Maas Groep N.V. will nominate Mr Arvid Manneke MBA (44) for membership of the Executive Board at an Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders to be held on 23 September 2003. Subject...[more]

PHILIPS DIODES FOR EIJSDEN BIZ
[BIZ: Eijsden, August 27]
Interestingly, when Philips is beginning to look away from Eindhoven in the direction af a larger Meuse-Rhine Euroregional base, taking in Louvain and Aachen, the Eijsden-based entrepreneur, Gillian Lekner, is buying Philips medium...[more]

MORE FUN SHOPPING
[BIZ: Liège, August 26]
Vanden Borre, a leading consumer electronics chain which operates 50 retail outlets, employs 650 and has annual revenues of EUR 140m, is going to open a new store at the entrance to the I'îlot Saint-Michel, place Saint-Lambert in Liège....[more]

PIERRE&VACANCES-CENTER PARCS
[BIZ: Paris, August 25]
As part of its development strategy in the short-distance tourism sector in Western Europe and in line with an earlier financial communication, Pierre & Vacances, European leader in the development of tourist accommodation rentals, with...[more]

KFN H1
[BIZ: Maastricht/Utrecht, August 22]
KFN, the upmarket Dutch office property specialist, reports that, in the first six months of 2003, the office market in the Netherlands experienced further pressure in office space and that the number of investment transactions...[more]

EUR 360M FOR SIEMENS TRAINS
[BIZ: Wegberg-Wildenrath, August 21]
Siemens has been made preferred bidder to supply up to 56 new three-car diesel trains to FirstGroup / Keolis for the UK's Trans Pennine Express franchise in a deal expected to be worth EUR 360m.When finalized, the order...[more]

HOTEL DERLON IN TOP FIVE
[BIZ: Maastricht, August 20]
According to a survey, covering 600,000 overnight stays in 500 hotels, by guests who booked their stay via the website linked below, Maastricht's Hotel Derlon is among the top 5 in the Netherlands. The guests judged the hotel in...[more]

NEW GOLF COURSE AT EYNEBURG
[BIZ: Eyneburg, August 20]
Chateau Eyneburg in Hergenrath (Kelmis) is going to be transformed into an hotel with an 18 hole golf course. The story reported in La Meuse notes that a Belgo-German property group is proposing the sale of the chateau to a...[more]

EXTENSION TO WOONBOULEVARD
[BIZ: Heerlen, August 20]
The retail furniture center, known as the Woonboulevard, in Heerlen is going to expand by 55,000m2, doubling in size. This is now possible after the successful conclusion of proceedings against the planning authorities...[more]

LOYALIS H1
[BIZ: Heerlen, August 19]
Loyalis, established by the Dutch Public Service Pension Fund (ABP), is a private company which deals with insurance and other specialized products that do not fall within the remit of the legislation governing the ABP. For example,...[more]

VODAFONE MMS FOR KPN CLIENTS
[BIZ: Maastricht, August 19]
Vodafone is the first mobile operator in the Netherlands to offer MMS interoperability to three other Dutch operators. Vodafone clients can now send MMS reports, photos, text and sound together directly to clients of KPN and receive...[more]

AIXTRON AND LUMILEDS
[BIZ: Aachen, August 19]
Aixtron has announced that Lumileds will continue to expand production capacity of its Luxeon™ products through the execution of a multi-system purchase agreement. The first order has already been placed. Lumileds, marketing “Light from...[more]

ZENTIS TO INVEST EUR 30M
[BIZ: Aachen, August 18]
EUR 30m is to be invested in the expansion and upgrading of production facilities at Zentis, Aachen's 110-year-old producer of jams, jellies, fruit spreads among other delicious things. The company is currently developing its wholesale...[more]

NINE HOLES FOR ST VITH
[BIZ: St. Vith, August 18]
A new nine hole golf course with a seminar center is to be set up in St. Vith by private investors who are contributing in excess of EUR 2m for the nine hole course - designed as an affordable approach to the sport. There will also...[more]

INTERPOLIS & VELDHOEN
[BIZ: Maastricht, August]
Interpolis, part of the Dutch Rabo Bank Group and active in a whole range of insurance activities, producing revenues in excess of EUR 4.5bn annually has been working together with the Maastricht-based Veldhoen + Company to produce...[more] Top

TNT LIEGE TO NAPLES & FLORENCE
[LOG: Liège August 29]
Leading B2B carrier TNT Express has today announced that it will launch new air linehaul connections between its European hub in Liège, Belgium and the Italian cities of Naples and Florence. This expansion brings the number of airports...[more]

MEUSE-RHINE HUB
[INFRA: Maastricht August 26]
In the Limburg Business Supplement to Dagblad de Limburger, there is an interview with René Verhoeven of the Maastricht Chamber in which he makes an argument for Meuse-Rhine, pointing out that Liège is essentially the hub...[more]

ORTMANS SITE
[INFRA: Verviers, August 18]
The contaminated Ortmans site in Verviers, where there is lead and zinc in the ground, is to be cleaned up and decontaminated. The buildings will also be demolished leaving a green zone. The work is in the hands of Spaque, the...[more]

ENERGY CITIES
[INFRA: Heerlen, August 22]
The Mayor and Council of Heerlen have decided to become a member of 'Energy Cities' to participate in information transfer relating to the project on the large-scale applications of mine water. This allows Heerlen to join under the...[more]

GLASPALEIS OPENS
[INFRA: Heerlen, August 22]
The Glaspaleis is officially open from September 1. The restoration of Fritz Peutz's original building, one of the 1,000 most significant buildings in the 20th Century, restored by the Heerlen architect Wiel Arets and Jo Coenen,...[more]

MISSING LOCK-KEEPERS
[INFRA: Wavre, August 22]
The Walloon Business Association, UWE, is complaining about the lack of lock-keepers to keep the country's navigable waterways open. It points out that at Ronquières, where barges are hoisted up an incline, that the facility is open...[more]

GIS DOWN THE DRAINS
[INFRA: Hasselt, August 22]
The Limburg intercommunal utility, Interelectra, is going to use the GIS system software developed for the City of Louvain for inspecting the drains. Interelectra will be paying EUR 64,930 annually for the first five years for the...[more]

A STRUNG BOW
[INFRA: Maastricht, August 15]
Maastricht's new cable arch bridge, which links the new Céramique district to the old part of the town will be called the high bridge or Hoeg Brögk in the city dialect; it is 164m long, 7.2m wide, and 45m above NAP and was...[more] Top

EUREGIONALE 2008 UPDATE
[GOV: Aachen, August 27]
Euregionale 2008 refers to a series of projects which can expect funding from the State Government of North Rhine Westphalia in 2008. Currently, there are 160 proposed projects and the focus of activity is in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion,...[more]

GSIM PROGRAM NEWS: FALL 2003
[EDU: Maastricht, August 23]
Maastricht University’s Graduate School of International Management (GSIM) is organizing information sessions on the Part-time Executive MBA programs in Dutch & English and the MBA program in Life Sciences in Maastricht, Wednesday,...[more]

SEMINAR AT UNU/INTECH
[EDU: Maastricht, August 22]
As part of the United Nations University/Institute for New Technologies (UNU/INTECH) Research Seminar Series, UNU/INTECH will be hosting a presentation by Professor Shujiro Urata on ‘Technology Transfer by Japanese Multinationals...[more]

ROMAN FURNACE ON TGV TRACK
[GOV/EDU: Eupen, August 22]
Two smelting furnaces dating from Roman times have been found on the TGV route between Brussels and Cologne. The Belgian railways and Belgium's German-speaking community are applying to excavate the site...[more]

EURODE'S CITY HALL
[GOV: Herzogenrath, August 19]
The citizens of Herzogenrath in Germany and the Dutch town of Kerkrade can now go to cross-border office hours with problems relating to the municipalities. Both municipalities, which straddle the border between Germany and the...[more] Top

WHY DO A LIFE SCIENCE MBA ?
[LIFE-SCI: Liège, August 29]
Feike Sijbesma, Member of the Board of DSM and Chairman of EuropaBio recently stressed the need for well-educated entrepreneurial managers in the fast growing life sciences industry (see our streaming video at www.mbalifesciences.info)....[more]

W.G.W. Boerma
Faculty...[more]

CLINICAL TRIALS
[LIFE-SCI: Maastricht, August 28]
The full program of the Clinical Trials one day conference and workshop on September 24 is available at the website....[more]

ARTIFICIAL ORGAN CONFERENCE
[LIFE-SCI: Aachen, August 26]
The ESAO 2003 congress, the XXXth Annual Congress of the European Society for Artificial Organs will be held in Aachen, September 3–6. More information on the ESAO is available at the ESAO website: www.esao.org. The conference program...[more]

DSM PATENTS AND PRODUCTS
[BIZ: Heerlen, August 22]
For the second year in succession, DSM, the international life science and performance materials company, has been named by the European Patent Office (EPO) as the company filing the largest number of biotechnology patent applications...[more]

CURRENT BY NANOWIRE
[LIFE-SCI: Aachen, August 20]
The Volkswagen Foundation is making a grant of EUR 2m for three new projects, one of them running at the Universities of Aachen and Marburg, the research center at Karlsruhe and Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology in Haifa....[more]

EURON OFFICIAL RECOGNITION
[LIFE-SCI: Maastricht, August 19]
The European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON)has been recognized by the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW) as a research school. Research schools are centers of high quality research where there is a structured focus...[more]

LIFE TEC X CHANGE
[LIFE-SCI: Aachen, August 15]
Aachen University’s interdisciplinary Life Sciences Forum, part of the Meuse-Rhine Triangle Interreg III project, and LifeTecAachen-Jülich e.V. are hosting LifeTec X change: Technologies for the Life Sciences, with presentations,...[more] Top

LIEGE IN THE 17TH CENTURY
[LEI: Liège, August 30]
'Regards sur le XVIIe siècle' - 'views of the 17th century in or from Liège' is the name of an exhibition which runs from September through November 2003 at the Treasury of the Cathedral of St.Paul in Liège daily, except Mondays, 14.00...[more]

CHEESE FESTIVAL
[LEI: Aywaille, August 29]
There is to be a Cheese Festival on August 30 and 31 at the Chateau de Harzé, a 17th century chateau in a park at Aywaille on the Liège/Bastogne highway. There will be cheese tasting, music and folklore activity. The cheeses will include...[more]

MORE ARDENNES HORSES
[LEI: Liège, August 19]
A new book on the Ardennes heavy horse Spirou, L'Ambassadeur Ardennais, will be published on September 9. The publication will be celebrated at the Centre Equestre a Mont-le-Soie (Petit-Their via Vielsalm)and in this context,...[more]

ART EXHIBIITON IKOB
[LEI: Eupen, August 28]
An exhibition of the art of the French community will open at the IKOB gallery in Eupen from August 30 to October 10. It includes the work of 70 artists of sculptures and installations. Artists include: Marianne Berenhaut; Juan d'Outremont;...[more]

MESSING ABOUT IN BOATS
[LEI: Liège, August 27]
The Port of Liège's yacht basin is going to expand further with mooring slots for pleasure boats as part of a campaign to promote river tourism. The new captainerie was established in 2000 and, no doubt, has a place to tell 'salty...[more]

PUBLIC INTIMACY
[LEI: Maastricht, August 27]
In the coming year, the Centre Céramique and the Limburg Symphony Orchestra are going to offer their third season of chamber concerts, headed 'public intimacy' - or words to that effect in Dutch. The concerts will start at 11.30am...[more]

ARDENNES HEAVY HORSES
[LEI: Herve-Battice, August 23]
There is to be an agricultural show, the 14th, at Herve-Battice on September 6 & 7 where 15,000 visitors are expected. Exhibitors will be coming from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Ireland and Finland and the focus...[more]

SMOKERS' RIGHTS
[LEI: Maastricht, August 21]
Although this editor writes as a non-smoker, it is worthy of note that Father Gerard Hover, the priest of the Parish of St Mathias in Maastricht has been appointed Ambassador of 'The Foundation for Smokers' Interests', according...[more]

THEATER IN MAASTRICHT
[LEI: Maastricht, August 20]
The Maastricht theater season has a program for young and old with shows, caberets, dance, theater, opera and all sorts of other things. On September 12 Onze Jeugd (Youth) brings Katja Schuurman to Maastricht; on September...[more]

TELLING STORIES
[LEI: Aachen, August 20]
The 7th International Storytelling Festival will be held at the Ballsaal, Altes Kurhaus in Aachen and the Leonardskapelle in Erkelenz from October 30 through Novemebr 2. Stories will be told in English and German, including fairy tales,...[more]

RUBENS' BRILLIANCE
[LEI: London/Antwerp/Lille, August]
Peter Paul Rubens: A Touch of Brilliance, an important exhibition devoted to the oil sketches of Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), will be staged at the Hermitage Rooms, South Building, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2,...[more] JAPANESE MASTERWORKS
[LEI: Bonn, August 11]
In the Art and Exhibition Center of the German Federal Republic the Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle in Bonn, there will be a special exhibition from August 29 through October 26 of masterworks from the collection of Tokyo's prestigious...[more]

(ADVERT) GREETING CARDS
[LEI: Maastricht, August]
There is a large supply of greeting cards available at the Galery Wolfs, Hoogbrugstraat 69, Maastricht featuring an unusual and attractive drawing by Toussaint Essers headed 'Maastricht/Muse Maestrichtoise 1993'....[more] Top

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