AstraZeneca, whose CEO Pascal Soriot has been critical of the UK business environment for the life sciences industry in the past, wants to invest a large sum at its homebase. On Mar. 6, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that the pharma giant plans to invest £650 million in the UK.
Swedish chemical producer Perstorp has bought out its minority partner in the joint venture (JV) Shandong Perstorp Chemical Co. (formerly Shandong Fufeng Perstorp Chemical Co.), which has owned and operated the site in China. Perstorp is now the sole owner of the polyol manufacturing operation, located in Zibo, Shandong province.
The pharmaceutical industry is a truly global and complex network of ingredients and materials suppliers, manufacturers, distributors for a variety of products ranging from vaccines to antibiotics and to therapeutic drugs for customers/patients.
AkzoNobel has completed a significant investment project at its production facility in Bac Ninh province, Vietnam, aimed at strengthening the company’s position in Asia and focusing on more sustainable manufacturing. The total investment amounts to €18.5 million.
Epsilogen and Lonza have successfully completed the manufacturing of a potential cancer treatment. The complex process, which took less than ten months, was carried out at Lonza’s UK site following Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has completed the acquisition of a 24.9% stake in Austrian energy group OMV from Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates. Financial details of the transaction, which was announced in December 2022, were not disclosed.
US biotechnology company Neomorph signed a $1.46 billion licensing agreement with Novo Nordisk to discover, develop and commercialize molecular glue degraders.
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) wants to invest $400 million for the construction and design of a sterile drug product (SDP) facility at its Cruiserath campus in Dublin, Ireland, significantly expanding manufacturing and laboratory capacity at the site.
Dutch paints and coatings group AkzoNobel has been opened a new €26 million manufacturing plant Faisalabad, Pakistan – the company’s largest investment in the country to date.
Unilever has appointed Heiko Schipper as President of the group’s Nutrition business, effective May 1, 2024.
Syngenta Group announced important collaborations following the launch of its innovation accelerator platform Shoots by Syngenta in 2023. These collaborations, which connect expertise across industries and sectors, are aimed at making possible novel solutions to agricultural challenges more quickly and efficiently.
ICL is to acquired Nitro 1000, a Brazilian manufacturer, developer and provider of biologicals for approximately $30 million.
Merck will open a new € 20 million distribution center in São Paulo, Brazil to better serve its Life Science customers in the region. The new space, which will be operational in late February, has an area of 13,000 square meters, which is twice as large as the former São Paulo location.
French industrial gases company Air Liquide and South African energy company Sasol have signed a power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Enel Green Power for the long term supply of an additional capacity of 110 MW of renewable power to Sasol’s Secunda site in South Africa.
Arkema has signed long term renewable energy agreements for its US sites in Calvert City, Kentucky, Beaumont, Texas, Chatham, Virginia, and West Chester, Pennsylvania, as well as for all Bostik sites in the United States. The company said that these agreements are part of its climate plan.
Within a few days, Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca has completed the acquisitions of Gracell Biotechnologies and Icosavax. Both transactions were announced in December 2023.
NextChem, part of Italian engineering group Maire Tecnimont, has signed a binding agreement to acquire 80% of HyDEP and 100% of Dragoni Group for a total of approximately €3.6 million.
As part of a multi-year agreement, US specialty chemicals company Albemarle will supply German car manufacturer BMW with battery-grade lithium for its electric vehicles (EVs), starting in 2025.
Sweden-based specialty chemicals company Perstorp has built and commissioned a new ISCC Plus-certified plant in western India to meet the growing market demand for Penta chemicals.
Olefins and polyolefins giant LyondellBasell (LYB) has acquired mechanical recycling assets containing rigid plastics recycling processing lines in the US from PreZero, a recycling and waste management service provider. The transaction, LYB said, includes the lease of the processing facility in Jurupa Valley, California, with a production capacity of approx. 23 million kg/year for recycled materials.
Evonik and the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany have signed a license agreement to commercialize randomized polyethylene glycols (rPEGs), a new class of PEGs.
Today, 73 industry leaders from 20 industrial sectors handed over "The Antwerp Declaration for a European Industrial Deal" to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The declaration emphasizes industry's dedication to Europe's transformation and outlines urgent needs to enhance Europe's competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability amid challenging economic circumstances.
Norwegian energy group Equinor and India’s Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation (DFPCL) have signed a 15-year contract for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG), scheduled to start in 2026.
The German start-up Bioweg found a way to replace petroleum-based chemicals with innovative bio-alternatives through fermentation and green chemistry. The processing of waste products results in bacterial cellulose, which serves as a substitute for synthetic polymers and thus has diverse potential applications.
In a move to improve the supply of renewable hydrogen and thus reduce dependence on natural gas and contribute to achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal and the REPowerEU plan, the EU Commission has approved a third Important project of common European interest (IPCEI) to support hydrogen infrastructure.
CEFIC, the European Chemical Industry Council, together with 25 other regional industry associations, has issued a joint statement calling on the European Union (EU) to realize the true potential of the single market.
DSM-Firmenich, a sector giant in nutrition, health, and beauty, has initiated a process to spin off and separate its Animal Nutrition & Health (ANH) business.
Carbios and De Smet Engineers & Contractors jointly announced their collaboration to spearhead the construction of the world's first PET biorecycling plant.
Brussels, Belgium-headquartered chemical company Solvay has completed the coal phase-out initiative at its US site in Green River, Wyoming.
The major capacity expansion was completed at AkzoNobel’s Powder Coatings site in Como, Italy. The expansion is aimed to secure supply to customers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
US biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences is to acquire CymaBay Therapeutics for $4.3 billion. Gilead offered to purchase all outstanding shares of CymaBay for $32.50 per share in cash.
UK-based recycling and waste management company Viridor has closed the acquisition of Norwegian chemical recycler Quantafuel as the Oslo Stock Exchange delisted Quantafuel’s shares from Euronext Growth on Feb. 7.
Maire Tecnimont has been awarded a FEED contract by MadoquaPower2X to develop an integrated green hydrogen and green ammonia plant located in the industrial zone of Sines, Portugal. MadoquaPower2x is a consortium comprised of Madoqua Renewables, Power2X, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), through its Energy Transition Fund.
Air Liquide and Dow renewed their industrial gas supply agreement for Dow’s chemical production site in Stade, Germany. Under the long-term agreement, Air Liquide will supply industrial gases and invest almost €40 million in modernizing its facilities to increase operational efficiency and reduce CO₂ emissions.
South Korean chemicals group LG Chem has secured a long-term cathode material supply contract with General Motors (GM), worth KRW 25 trillion (about $19 billion). LG Chem intends to use its US cathode plant in Tennessee as a production center for the global battery materials market.
