LED maker Cree plans to announce a new jobs initiative Thursday.

The company said today that CEO Chuck Swoboda and Gov. Beverly Perdue intend to jointly announce "new green jobs" at a press conference at Cree's headquarters in Durham on Thursday afternoon.

Cree spokeswoman Michelle Murray declined to fill in the blanks.

But Swoboda may have foreshadowed the upcoming announcement in August, when the company reported its earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter that ended June 28. Swoboda disclosed then that Cree was increasing capacity at its plants in Durham and China and hiring additional workers in response to strong demand, but said the company hadn't yet set hiring targets.

Cree has about 3,500 full-time workers, including 1,500 in Durham.

The company hasn't been buffeted by the recession. Revenue for the latest quarter was $148.1 million, up 9 percent from a year ago, and the company projected that revenue in the current quarter would range from $160 million to $166 million.

When Cree announced a $300 million expansion and the creation of 300 new jobs at its Durham plant in 2004, the state promised it up to $5.1 million in incentives.

Caterpillar, which is restructuring a division and expects to cut more local jobs, plans to raise prices on most of its machines worldwide by as much as 2 percent.

The price change is effective Jan. 1 and is in response to "current industry factors and current and expected general economic conditions," the company wrote in a regulatory filing. The increases will vary by region and product.

The Illinois company expects to see demand recover as the economy improves next year, CEO Jim Owens, an N.C. State alumnus and trustee, said last month.

For all those people in the market for a high-end condo overlooking downtown Raleigh and a Mini Cooper, you're in luck.

Bloomsbury Estates, the 56-unit development at the corner of Boylan Avenue and Hargett Street, is now offering a new Mini to buyers who sign a contract by the end of October and close by the end of the year.

"We just thought that was a cute idea," said John Bruckel, Bloomsbury's developer. "In this economic environment people are looking for value."

The promotion is a partnership between Bloomsbury and Flow Automotive Group of Winston-Salem, which will open the Triangle's first Mini franchise early next year on Capital Boulevard. Several Minis will be at Bloomsbury starting tomorrow, and the devleopment will be offering condo tours and test drives at an open house on Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.

None of Bloomsbury's units, which range from $329,900 to $1.12 million, have sold thus far. Bruckel said six are under contract.

Bloomsbury will cover the cost of the vehicle, but not taxes, tags or any upgrades, Bruckel said. The models being offered by Bloomsbury range from just under $20,000 to about $26,000.

Those buying one-bedroom Bloomsbury units are eligible for the Cooper Hardtop, the least expensive Mini. Buyers of two-bedroom units are eligible for a Cooper S, while buyers of three-bedroom units can get a Cooper S Convertible.  

Bruckel said Bloomsbury and Mini Cooper are a perfect match.  

"We have an English, high-quality no compromise type of building," he said. "It's fun and contemporary but rooted in tradition." 

On Oct. 24, Bailey's Fine Jewelry will host a technology-driven scavenger hunt in downtown Raleigh.

The prize: a trademark black-and-white striped Bailey box with a $20,000 diamond ring inside.

The treasure hunt will kick off at noon at the state Capitol. Participants will receive clues via text message. The first one to find the box gets to keep it.

The company says the scavenger hunt is the ultimate version of a promotion it began last year in which Bailey's employees would leave gifts inside Bailey boxes in randomly selected locations around town for unsuspecting people to find (and keep).

To participate in the Oct. 24 contest, you must register first. Here's the Web site.

PocketGear, a Durham company whose technology runs online "app" stores for mobile phone providers, has signed a new deal with Samsung Mobile.

Samsung will soon launch its Widget Store to run on a new line of TouchWiz phones. The store will allow customers to download applications to access online content such as Facebook, Twitter, Fox Sports and more.

PocketGear has similar deals with AT&T and other partners. Landing Samsung, the No. 1 distributor of mobile phones in North America, is a major coup, said founder and CEO Jud Bowman.

PocketGear was formed last year when Bowman, 28, bought the business from Motricity, a tech company he helped start as a teenager.

Bowman's new venture now employs about 30 at its offices in the shadow of the Lucky Strike smokestack in Durham's American Tobacco Campus. That's up from 20 a year ago, and the company is continuing to hire.

Last Friday morning, top officials with Talecris Biotherapeutics, including CEO Lawrence Stern, pressed the opening buzzer at the Nasdaq stock market in New York.

The ceremony marked the start of trading for the Research Triangle Park drug company's shares on Thursday.

This Friday, it's Mark Sirgo's turn.

The CEO of BioDelivery Sciences International and other executives are scheduled to do the Nasdaq honors to celebrate the Raleigh company's first product, the Onsolis pain treatment.

The company that owns the Food Lion and Bloom grocery store chains is looking for a bigger presence in North Carolina.

Delhaize Group, which is based in Brussels, Belgium, today announced a tentative agreement to buy "a substantial majority" of the assets of bankrupt grocer Bi-Lo for $425 million cash.

Company spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown said she could not elaborate on which assets are part of the deal or on what will happen to those assets once the deal is closed. However, the statement released today did offer some insight into what might happen to the acquired property: "It is the intent of Delhaize Group to integrate the included Bi-Lo assets in the network of its wholly owned subsidiary Food Lion."

Bi-Lo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 23. It operates 214 stores in the Carolinas, Tennesee and Georgia. In North Carolina, its stores are mostly in the western part of the state. There are none in the Triangle. The Mauldin, S.C. chain employs 15,500 people. According to today's release, the assets are estimated to have had $2 billion in sales in 2008.

The deal is still subject to approval by the bankruptcy court. But Delhaize Group said it expects the deal to close shortly.

Talecris Biotherapeutics ended the week in the plus column.

Shares of the Research Triangle Park company closed Friday, their second day of trading, at $22.66, up $1.51. That came on a day when broader stock-market indices fell again, finishing with the first back-to-back weekly losses since July.

Talecris sold 50 million shares at $19 each late Wednesday, marking the first IPO for a Triangle corporation in more than two years.

Friday's close gives investors, which include many of the company's more than 2,000 local employees, a respectable return of nearly 20 percent in two days.

Trimeris, a once-promising biotechnology company that failed to reach its potential, has agreed to be acquired by a South Korean medical equipment company.

Arigene Co. announced this afternoon that it has agreed to pay about $81 million in cash for the Durham-based company, which has just a handful of employees after slashing its  operations.

The $3.60 per share tender offer, which must be approved by shareholders, represents a premium of about 40 percent over Thursday's closing price. Shares fetched more than $30 at their peak in 2000.

Trimeris is one of the few Triangle drug companies to shepherd a drug from the research-and-development stage to regulatory approval and, more importantly, patients. But sales of its powerful AIDS drug Fuzeon -- launched in 2003 by its corporate partner, the Swiss drugmaker Roche -- were hindered by its $20,000-a-year price tag and its side effects.

Novant Health of Winston-Salem will take over management of Franklin Regional Medical Center in Louisburg, as part of a restructuring of joint venture with Health Management Associates announced today.

In March 2008, Novant purchased a 27 percent ownership of seven Carolinas hospitals, including Franklin Regional, from HMA.

With the restructuring, Novant increases its ownership interest to 99 percent in Franklin Regional, located about 30 miles northeast of Raleigh.

The deal will allow Novant to become more involved in patient care, physician partnerships and community outreach, said Novant president Paul Wiles.

Novant recently lost a bid to build a community hospital in Holly Springs after its proposal was rejected by state regulators. The company has wanted to expand its foothold in the fast-growing Triangle health-care market.

The company owns 12 hospitals across the Carolinas, including Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem and Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte.