PERSONNEL

Allete Inc., Duluth, announced the planned retirement of Chief Financial Officer Mark Schober. As part of an orderly transition, Schober, 57, will remain at the company until mid-year 2014.

Insignia Systems Inc., Brooklyn Park, has appointed Glen Dall president and chief executive officer and also elected him to the board of directors. Scott Drill, who previously served as CEO, was appointed senior advisor, and retired from the board, as did Gordon Stofer, who had been the chairman. Gary Vars was appointed to the board and David Boehnen was appointed chairman.

MERGERS AND ACQUISTIONS

Stream Global Services, an Eagan-based business process outsourcing services firm, has acquired N2SP Tunisie, a Tunisian company offering service and multichannel support to European customers. Terms were not disclosed. N2SP provides a range of services primarily through chat and email capabilities, including hotline maintenance and technical support, customer service and back office activities.

NEW BUSINESS

Cargill Inc., Minnetonka, said it will suspend purchases of cattle that have been fed the Zilmax feed supplement in North America while tests are carried out. The company will stop the purchase of Zilmax-fed cattle in North America as drugmaker Merck & Co. plans a study of the supplement. Merck, the maker of Zilmax, said Aug. 16 it was temporarily suspending sales of the livestock-feed supplement in the United States and Canada after Tyson Foods Inc., the largest U.S. beef processor, said on Aug. 8 that it was halting its use of Zilmax because of lame livestock found at its factories.

DEBT AND EQUITIES

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., Eden Prairie, said that its board of directors has increased the number of shares authorized to be repurchased by 15 million shares. There are approximately 8.7 million shares left from the previous authorization. The total current number of shares authorized for future repurchases is 23.7 million. The company has entered into a $500 million Accelerated Share Repurchase (ASR) program with two banks, JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC. Under the ASR program, C.H. Robinson will receive an initial delivery of moe than 6.1 million shares. The company also announced that it has entered into an agreement to borrow $500 million from three lenders, Prudential, New York Life and MetLife, in a private placement transaction. The average maturity of the notes is 15 years and the weighted average coupon is 4.28 percent.