This week's big news was the sale of Panera Bread to Luxembourg based JAB Holdings Co.  We've seen a growing number of these foreign acquisitions lately - from the obvious Sigma Aldrich/Merck and Monsanto/Bayer (Germany) to the lesser known CSI Leasing/Century Tokyo (Japan).  In fact, mergers and acquisitions have replaced new openings and relocations as the prevailing form of foreign investment, both nationwide and in St. Louis.  As a community, we have been looking at these trends and, with the Brookings Institute, are in the final development stages of releasing St. Louis' first global investment plan.  This plan includes detailed strategies to connect with foreign owned companies to ensure their local success and business growth.  Stay tuned for more details.