FRANKFURT, Jan 11 (Reuters) – E.ON said it
is to buy a 10 percent stake in Brazil’s MPX Energia
as it looks to tap new markets following Germany’s move to close
its nuclear power industry.

Wednesday’s move comes only weeks after its failed bid to
buy part of Portugal’s EDP.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Audi, the premium car brand of Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), posted record sales in 2011 as demand for luxury cars in China and Russia helped it gain ground on bigger rivals like BMW (BMWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Daimler’s (DAIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Mercedes-Benz.

Audi on Monday unveiled sales growth of 19.2 percent for last year, outpacing 12.8 percent for the BMW brand and 8.0 percent at Daimler’s luxury brand.

FRANKFURT, Jan 9 (Reuters) – New solar installations
reached a fresh record of 7.5 gigawatts (GW) in Germany in 2011,
playing into the hands of advocates for steeper cuts in tariff
subsidies to reduce growth of solar power and the resulting
higher costs for consumers.

The figure slightly exceeds the 7.4 GW recorded in 2010,
German network regulatory agency Bundesnetzagentur (BnetzA) said
in a statement on Monday.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – BMW (BMWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted record car sales for 2011 and forecast a boom in luxury cars would keep it ahead of rivals this year as the world’s number one maker of luxury cars enjoys strong demand from China and the United States.

The Munich-based company said on Monday that worldwide sales of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce cars rose 14.2 percent to 1.67 million last year.

FRANKFURT, Jan 9 (Reuters) – BMW posted
record car sales for 2011 and forecast a boom in luxury cars
would keep it ahead of rivals this year as the world’s number
one maker of luxury cars enjoys strong demand from China and the
United States.

The Munich-based company said on Monday that worldwide sales
of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce cars rose 14.2 percent to 1.67
million last year.

FRANKFURT, Jan 9 (Reuters) – New solar installations
reached a fresh record of 7.5 gigawatts (GW) in Germany in 2011,
playing into the hands of advocates for steeper cuts in tariff
subsidies to reduce growth of solar power and the resulting
higher costs for consumers.

The figure slightly exceeds the 7.4 GW recorded in 2010,
German network regulatory agency Bundesnetzagentur (BnetzA) said
in a statement on Monday.

FRANKFURT, Dec 23 (Reuters) – E.ON EONG.DE and RWE
(RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Germany’s top utilities, need fresh ideas for their
expansion strategy after setbacks this week that suggest it will
not be easy for them to find growth and lower debt in a
post-nuclear world.

E.ON (EONGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday lost a bid for Portugal’s stake
in EDP (EDP.LS: Quote, Profile, Research) — a move that would have given it exposure to
the fast-growing Brazilian market and increased its renewables
reach — while RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) said talks with Russia’s Gazprom
(GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) about power production ventures had failed.
[ID:nL6E7NM2I9] [ID:nL6E7NM1BG]

FRANKFURT, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Patent firm IPCom has
sued German retailers for patent infringement for continuing to
sell phones made by HTC, the No. 4 smartphone vendor
globally.

A court in Mannheim, Germany, ruled in February 2009 against
HTC in a patent fight with IPCom, allowing an injunction against
sales of HTC phones using UMTS technology and setting a penalty
of up to 250,000 euros ($326,200) each time the injunction was
contravened.

FRANKFURT, Dec 22 (Reuters) – RWE AG and
Gazprom have terminated talks about joint power
production ventures, a setback in the German utility’s efforts
to seek Russian-funded growth to help make up for its domestic
market’s exit from nuclear power.

“Although our discussions were conducted in a very
constructive manner we were unfortunately not able to agree on a
framework for cooperation which would be sustainable for both
parties,” RWE Chief Executive Juergen Grossmann said in a
statement on Thursday.

FRANKFURT/LOS ANGELES, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Solar Millennium
AG (S2MG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) became the second German solar company to file for
insolvency this month, as the company ran out of cash before it
was able to finalize deals to sell large projects in the United
States and Spain.

It still expects, however, to complete a transaction to sell
its biggest U.S. projects to German developer solarhybrid AG
(SHLG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) early next year.