
Syngenta Acquires Australian Weed Management Specialist
Syngenta Crop Protection has bought Macspred Australia, a specialist in weed management for the forestry, roads, rail, utilities and infrastructure sectors.
Syngenta Crop Protection has bought Macspred Australia, a specialist in weed management for the forestry, roads, rail, utilities and infrastructure sectors.
DuPont has agreed to pay US private equity firm AEA Investors $1.75 billion to acquire Spectrum Plastics Group, a small specialty plastics company based in Atlanta, Georgia. The price is a 15.6x multiple on Spectrum’s forecast 2023 EBITDA.
LyondellBasell said it plans to acquire Veolia Belgium‘s stake in the joint venture Quality Circular Polymers (QCP), which has recycling facilities in Belgium and the Netherlands. Currently, the Paris-headquartered waste management group supplies soiled plastic waste to the recycling units, a role it will continue on an independent basis.
Versalis is taking full control of renewables specialist Novamont by acquiring the 64% stake held by joint venture partner Mater-Bi, which is held by equity funds Investitori Associati II and NB Renaissance.
India-headquartered drugmaker Glenmark is said to be taking another look at selling a majority stake in its business with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which is wrapped up in subsidiary Glenmark Life Sciences.
Nouryon has announced plans to “signficantly” increase capacity for organic peroxides at its site in Ningbo, China. The Dutch specialty chemicals producer will double capacity of its Perkadox 14 and Trigonox peroxides to 6,000 t/y each by mid-2024.
Solvay has signed an agreement with Chinese company Guangxi Chlor-Alkali Chemical (GHCAC) to supply a technology license for its hydrogen peroxide technology.
In 2022, the European Commission revised the definition of nanomaterials in a new recommendation, which supports a uniform EU regulatory framework and aims at aligning the legislation across various sectors. Therefore, particle product design is an enabling technology relevant for many sectors, such as chemicals, consumer products, foods and beverages, health, energy, and the environment.
Swiss-based, globally oriented CDMO Siegfried has broken ground or its new global Research and Development (R&D) Center for Drug Substances at its site in Evionnaz, Switzerland, which the company describes as a “key pillar” in its related network.
As April winds down and major German chemical companies hold their annual shareholder meetings, questions are being asked whether about the country is tying its trade too closely to with China and repeating the same mistakes it made earlier by becoming dependent on Russian gas.
Ginkgo Bioworks is partnering with US startup Visolis to improve the latter’s biomanufacturing process for isoprene and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Dow has selected Linde to supply clean hydrogen and nitrogen for its proposed net-zero carbon emissions integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives site in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada.
Italian polyamide and polymer specialist Radici has opened a new manufacturing plant in Suzhou, China, stepping up its presence in the Asian market. The site is designed to double capacity for engineering polymers, serving various markets that include automotive, electrical/electronics, consumer and industrial goods.
European NGOs have welcomed the EU’s plans for an overhaul of pharmaceutical legislation – the first in two decades – presented this week in Brussels. The drugs industry, however, has expressed sharp criticism.
Agilyx ASA to explore the scale-up of the former’s integrated cascading catalytic pyrolysis (ICCP) process in a commercial demonstration plant.
Du Pont has been found guilty of criminal negligence and fined $12 million in connection with a November 2014 explosion that killed four employees of its methyl mercaptan plant in LaPorte, Texas, and caused extensive environmental damage.
African specialty chemicals distributor Solevo has been sold by its former owner Helios Investment Partners to Development Partners International (DPI), a private equity firm focused on Africa, in a consortium with minority co-investors South Suez and European development finance institution, DEG.
German specialty chemicals producer Evonik has emerged as one of only a handful of companies with concrete plans to use green hydrogen to make chemicals, although several others are eyeing the renewable fuel as an energy source.
In its second acquisition this month, IMCD has taken over Swedish minerals and chemicals distributor ACM. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Roquette, a French-based multinational provider of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical excipients, has opened a new Pharmaceutical Innovation Center near Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, USA, complementing its other centers in France and Singapore.
All immediate challenges to the status of abortifacient mifepristone on the US market are on ice for the near future after the Supreme Court on Apr. 21 — without considering the merits of the case — approved a Justice Department request to put temporarily suspend recent rulings by a federal district court and an appeals court.
Bayer has seen its share of turbulent shareholder meetings, and the event on Apr. 28 is likely to continue in that vein, though it would be tough to top 2019. In that year, when anger over lawsuits involving Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide boiled over, 55% voted not to discharge CEO Werner Baumann and the managing board of their responsibilities.
Austrian technology group Andritz and Norwegian green hydrogen company HydrogenPro are working together to scale up the manufacturing and assembly of electrolyzers for the European market.
DSM is in exclusive talks with US CDMO Adare Pharma Solutions to buy Adare Biome, a French developer and manufacture of postbiotics, for €275 million.
Thailand’s Indorama Ventures (IVL) says it is “continuing to assess” plans to build and operate a plant for “world-class” lithium-ion battery solvents at one of its petrochemical facilities on the US Gulf Coast, but no longer with Capchem USA, subsidiary of China’s Shenzen-Capchem Technology.
Together with its Brazilian joint venture partner Tovani Benzaquen Ingredientes, Dutch distributor Barentz International has bought Metachem Industrial e Comercial and associate Chemtra Comercial Importação e Exportação.
Ghana-based start-up AppCyclers has developed a web- and app-based solution for local electronics waste (e-waste) management services. What distinguishes these innovators is their holistic approach: With this contribution to sustainable chemistry, they not only focus on safe and efficient disposal of e-waste and material recovery. They also educate local communities about the importance of proper disposal and reducing their e-waste footprint.
At its production site in Herne, Germany, specialty chemicals producer Evonik is investing in a pilot electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen as a feedstock for isophorone diamine (IPDA), a key raw material for wind turbine rotor blades.
Interview with Annegret Vester, Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), CHT Germany
AkzoNobel has agreed to buy Sherwin-Williams’ Chinese decorative paints business for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year. The business has annual revenues of about €100 million and employs about 300 people.
Saudi Arabia is transferring another 4% chunk of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco, parent company of petrochemicals and plastics producer SABIC, to Sanabil Investments, a vehicle wholly owned by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Shares of Prometheus Biosciences soared on news that US drugs major Merck will acquire the company in an all-cash deal valued at roughly $200 per share, or $10.8 billion.
British multinational engineering and consulting business Wood Group has decided to engage with private equity firm Apollo Management, which has made a fifth offer valuing the group at about $2 billion.
Versalis is planning a project at its site in Ravenna, Italy, to increase capacity for elastomers. Estimated investment costs are put at about $80 million
Italian biopharma Chiesi has completed its acquisition of Irish rare disease drugmaker Amryt Pharma. The deal, which was originally announced in January, could be worth up to €1.4 billion for Amryt if certain milestones are met for its epidermolysis bullosa (EB) drug Filsuvez.