Among today’s headlines, a Northern Irish property developer spends £125 million buying assets in the US, Rutland Partners adds an incontinence products company to its portfolio and Sports Direct acquires an outdoor equipment retailer

Among today’s headlines, a Northern Irish property developer spends £125 million buying assets in the US, Rutland Partners adds an incontinence products company to its portfolio and Sports Direct acquires an outdoor equipment retailer:

• Cadbury Schweppes has bought US independent soft drinks bottler Southeast-Atlantic Beverage from private shareholders for an undisclosed sum.

• Ulster-based property developer Parkergreen International has spent £125 million on 500 acres of residential development land in New Jersey and the Millford Retail Centre in Connecticut.

• Private equity firm Rutland Partners has acquired Attends, a Newcastle-based incontinence products company, for £63 million.

• Merseyside Special Investment Fund has bought glass specialist Lattimer Group from Hamspon Industries plc in a £4 million deal.

• Sheffield-based law firm Keeble Hawson has created a business with 29 partners and 220 employees after merging with Doncaster company Frank Allen Pennington.

• Scott Wilson Group plc, a transport, property, natural resources and environment consultant, is to buy Scottish civil and structural engineer McLay Collier LLP.

• Tarsus Group plc, a business-to-business media specialist, has bought events company DMS Group LLC for an initial £249,000 cash sum with further payments due in the next two years.

• Sports Direct International plc, a sports good retailer, has bought a 60% shareholding in Field & Trek, an outdoor clothing and equipment supplier, for £5 million.