Triangle.

• Position: REGIONAL REPORT - WakeMed wins 102 new hospital beds - AB Automotive will expand and add employees

WakeMed kicks its rival out of beds

WakeMed pitched a shutout against rival Rex Healthcare by winning all 102 new hospital beds allocated for Wake County this year. It's the first time the N.C. Division of Facility Services has approved an increase of beds in the county since 1981. WakeMed plans to add 60 beds to its 515 in Raleigh and 42 to its 114 in Cary. Rex, which has 388 beds and wanted 45 more at its hospital in west Raleigh, plans to appeal.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

SMITHFIELD -- AB Automotive, part of Britain-based TT electronics, will spend $6 million to expand its factory and will add 76 jobs, bringing the total to 146, during the next three years. AB makes automotive sensors and is adding a line of printed circuit boards.

DURHAM -- Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft plans to increase employment at its development office here from 40 to 100 within a year. Microsoft opened the office nearly three years ago. It makes pieces of the Visual Studio software used by developers to create programs that run on Microsoft's operating system.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Tranzyme Pharma, which is developing drugs to treat gastrointestinal ailments, raised $32 million in venture capital. Its lead product, a treatment for postoperative intestinal paralysis or blockage, is expected to enter clinical trials by year's end. Financing was led by Miami-based H.I.G. Ventures; Minneapolis-based Thomas, McNerney & Partners and Philadelphia-based Quaker BioVentures.

DURHAM -- Cree CEO Chuck Swoboda, 38, replaced co-founder Neal Hunter, 43, as chairman. Hunter resigned from the board but wasn't specific as to his plans. Cree also teamed with Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon to win a three-year federal contract to produce semiconductors for military and commercial products. The contract could be worth $24.5 million to Cree.

ROXBORO -- Carolina Sunrock, a Butner-based producer of construction materials, plans to open a quarry, asphalt plant and concrete factory just north of here early next year. It will employ 50. The company employs about 160 in Granville, Wake, Durham and Vance counties.

DURHAM -- Ronald Wiley, 49, was picked to replace Lee Johnson Jr., 61, who was scheduled to retire in June as CEO of M&F Bancorp, the holding company for Mechanics and Farmers Bank. Wiley had been CEO of Southern Dallas...