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Southern California-headquartered Diedrich Coffee Inc. has signed a definitive agreement for the sale of its Gloria Jean's international franchise operations for $16 million in cash. There are also license and consulting agreements, for which Diedrich Coffee will receive $7.25 million over a period of six years. The purchaser is Jireh International Pty. Ltd., the company's master franchisee for Australia. The acquisition is subject to a number of customary conditions and is expected to close in January 2005.Diedrich currently operates 517 retail outlets, the majority of which are franchised, located in 33 states and 14 foreign countries. Diedrich Coffee also sells its coffees through more than 460 wholesale accounts including office coffee service distributors, restaurants and specialty retailers, via mail order and the Internet…

Scottish bank HBOS PLC, Canada's Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc., and a trust linked to Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal have formed a joint venture to invest in European hotels, and kicked off the partnership by acquiring the Monte Carlo Grand Hotel in Monaco. The joint venture will create a $1.5 billion bank roll, of which HBOS division Bank of Scotland will fund a full 50%. Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Hotels International and Fairmont will each contribute 25% to the partnership. The hotels acquired by the joint venture will be managed by Fairmont, and Bank of Scotland will provide debt financing for the projects. Cedar Capital Partners will serve as manager and investment adviser for the joint venture. The venture did not disclose the terms of its acquisition of the Monte Carlo Grand Hotel. The hotel will be "rebranded" as the "Fairmont Monte Carlo" in March 2005, and the group expects to invest $50 million to refurbish it; and…

Gateway Inc. has said its personal computers will be sold at consumer electronics retail giant Circuit City Stores Inc. locations starting next month. Initially, Gateway notebook and desktop computers will be available at more than 600 Circuit City stores in 160 markets around the US.

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