IRISH INVESTMENT: Kennedy-Wilson Holdings Inc. has partnered with Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG to acquire an Irish real estate loan portfolio with an unpaid principal balance of $449 million. Most of the assets are commercial properties and located in Dublin. The Beverly Hills real estate investment company last month announced an initiative to acquire with partners at least $2.5 billion in European real estate loans, with Kennedy-Wilson typically serving as the asset manager.

LARGER LOSS: Bioplastics maker Cereplast Inc. reported a 62 percent larger second quarter net loss of $3.9 million, with sales down 97 percent to $190,000. The El Segundo company, which supplies a resin primarily used to make ecologically friendly plastic packaging, said the drop was due a reorganization in which it reduced its exposure to riskier direct sales overseas and focused instead on existing U.S. customers, which comprised most of its sales in the period.

OVERSEAS CONTRACTS: Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced a trio of contracts overseas, including a $406 million consulting and project management contract with Qatar Railways Co. for a planned $36 billion metro project in Qatar’s capital city of Doha. The Pasadena company will provide similar services to Methanex Corp. concerning the relocation of an idle methanol facility in Chile to Geismar, La. The project is expected to cost about $550 million, but Jacob’s share was not disclosed. In addition, Jacobs signed a five-year agreement with Shell Global Solutions International B.V. to provide services to Shell assets in Europe and potentially later in the Middle East and Africa. The value of that contract was not disclosed.