Gambling giant Flutter Entertainment bought online betting firm Tombola in a deal worth more than £400m.
The owner of the Betfair and Paddy Power brands expects the deal for Sunderland's Tombola to be completed early next year, subject to approval from competition authorities.
It will pay £402m in cash for the business, which employs more than 700 people and is known for its sponsorship of the ITV programme I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.
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Flutter said it was “100%” committed to retaining Tombola as a Sunderland business, and hoped to use its scale to grow the operation and offer new opportunities to its staff.
Newcastle property firm Grainger plc announced the acquisition of two sites where it plans to build rental properties.
The 海角视频’s largest listed residential landlord, which already has almost 10,000 rental homes and a further 8,000 in its pipeline, has acquired sites in Exeter and Sheffield which will allow it to add nearly 500 new properties.
A site at Exmouth Junction in Exeter has planning permission for 230 homes and will be Grainger’s first in the south west city. The company said the site to the north east of the city centre was well located for access to the University of Exeter, the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, the Met Office and the City Centre itself.
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Separately, a site at Brook Place in Sheffield could deliver up to 250 PRS homes, sitting next to an existing Grainger’s housing scheme which opened in 2019.
Newcastle-based Hirestreet struck a deal with Marks and Spencer to launch its first clothing rental service after receiving investment from the retail giant.
Hirestreet, which is run by former Young Business Person of the Year Isabella West, has secured investment from Marks and Spencer’s Founders Factory, which invests in start ups and emerging businesses, particularly in the technology sector.
In what Hirestreet founder and CEO Isabella West describes as a “massive” deal for her company and the clothing rental sector, M&S will use Hirestreet’s Zoa technology to trial the rental of clothing for customers who want to both spend less on clothing and reduce waste.
Meanwhile, Newcastle-based housebuilder Bellway signed a deal to develop homes at the Integra 61 development in County Durham.
The site close to junction 61 of the A1(M) - which is already home to a massive Amazon warehouse - has been marketed for around six months and comes with existing planning permission for housing.
Bellway will build around 100 three and four-bedroomed houses on the site, with the first units expected to be available towards the end of next year.
Following the completion of major infrastructure works in 2020, Integra 61 is now on its way to creating thousands of new jobs in the area, adding around £2bn to the regional economy over the next 10 years.