US titanium dioxide pigments and performance additives producer Venator Materials has agreed to sell its iron oxide business to Hong Kong’s Cathay Industries for an enterprise value of $140 million. The transaction is expected to close by the end of quarter one 2023.
International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) has entered exclusive negotiations with Nippon Soda and made what it said is a “firm and binding offer” to acquire the Japanese group’s offshoot Métaux Spéciaux (MSSA), a sodium metal specialist.
Univation Technologies has been selected by PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional (PT-KPI) to provide its Unipol PE process for a new 700,000 t/y plant to be installed at the latter’s Tuban complex in East Java, Indonesia.
British drugmaker Indivior has agreed to buy Opiant, a US biotech specializing in treatments for addiction and drug overdose. Indivior will pay about $145 million upfront, plus another $68 million if Opiant hits revenue milestones.
Sinarmas CEPSA, a 50:50 joint venture between Spanish CEPSA and Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singaporean palm oil producer Golden Agri-Resources – a subsidiary of Sinar Mas – to expand bio-based chemicals production.
AstraZeneca (AZ) has announced it is permanently backing away from any plans to sell its Vaxzevria-branded Covid-19 vaccine in the US.
Solvay said it plans to resume construction on its 600,000 t/y soda ash capacity expansion at its Green River, Wyoming, US plant, with production now expected to start at the end of 2024. The project was put on hold in September 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic
French pharma Sanofi has entered a multi-year, multi-target research collaboration worth up to $1.2 billion with Hong Kong biotech Insilico Medicine.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $7.7 million in research grant funding to 11 technology institutions to develop and evaluate innovative methods and approaches to inform understanding of the human health risks of exposure to chemical mixtures in the environment.
German Covid-19 vaccine specialist BioNTech has acquired a production facility in Singapore from Swiss drugmaker Novartis that will serve as a manufacturing base in addition to being its Asia-Pacific headquarters.
Leading chemicals and ingredients distributor Brenntag has announced the second phase of its strategic growth plan, which sets new goals until 2026.
LyondellBasell has won contracts for two PP projects, one in China and the other in Vietnam. The value of the contracts was not disclosed.
Angus Chemical Company, a US-based global manufacturer and marketer of specialty ingredients for life sciences and industrial markets, has acquired Expression Systems, a compatriot manufacturer of cell culture media, baculovirus molecular reagents and cell lines used in advanced biological-based therapeutics.
Japan-based multinational chemical producer Asahi Kasei has begun construction of an alkaline water electrolysis pilot test plant for hydrogen production in Kawasaki, Japan.
The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) has announced Takeda Pharmaceuticals International as the 2022 Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) Overall Winner.
After several delays and restarts and a lengthy review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the Covid-19 vaccine called VidPrevtyn Beta developed by the French-British partnership of Sanofi and GSK has been greenlighted by the European Commission.
Australia’s Incitec Pivot Ltd (IPL) has entered into a joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s Modern Chemicals Company (MCC) to build the Kingdom’s first technical-grade ammonium nitrate plant. The companies did not reveal the size of their stakes in the venture.
UK specialist healthcare investor GHO Capital Partners and US investment firm The Vistria Group have entered into an agreement to buy a controlling interest in US CDMO Alcami from current private equity owners Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP) and Ampersand Capital Partners. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Turkish industrial conglomerate Yildirim will now launch a mandatory takeover bid for fertilizer producer Rosier – and a squeeze-out offer for the remaining shares – once the acquisition from Borealis has closed.
UK health regulator Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech bivalent Covid-19 vaccine for use as a booster in people 12 years and older.
US nylon giant Ascend Performance Materials has acquired an undisclosed majority stake in compatriot Circular Polymers, a recycler of post-consumer high-performance polymers including PA 6 and 6.6, polypropylene and PET.
Sandoz, the generics arm of Swiss drugmaker Novartis, has announced plans to spend an additional €50 million on raising European manufacturing capacity for finished dosage forms of amoxicillin and other key penicillin products.
Covestro is again putting on hold its previously announced plans to build a new 500,000 t/y plant for polyurethane precursor MDI.
Ineos Olefins & Polymers Europe and Plastic Energy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to produce 100,000 t/y of petrochemical feedstock from recycled plastic waste.
The CEOs of seven multinational pharmaceutical companies have announced that they are taking joint action to achieve near-term emissions reduction targets and accelerate the delivery of net zero health systems.
Shell has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with BASF and Chinese state-owned groups, including chemical producer Sinopec and steel maker Baowu, to explore the feasibility of developing an open-source carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) project in East China.
Every November for the past five years, the Conor Troy Consultancy (CTC) has been hosting the OpEx Forum in Schwetzingen, Germany.
The battery market is becoming increasingly important to the global chemical industry, with companies frequently linking up to supply key materials.
Ariceum Therapeutics, a Berlin-headquartered private biotech developing radiopharmaceutical products for the diagnosis and systemic targeted certain hard-to-treat cancers, and AmbioPharm, a globally oriented US CDMO specialized in peptides, have agreed a strategic partnership in peptide conjugates.
Dutch specialty chemicals and ingredients distributor IMCD has entered into an agreement to buy China’s Shanghai Sanrise Industries & Development. Financial terms were not disclosed.
DuPont has terminated the agreement announced in November last year to acquire the outstanding shares of electronics materials specialist Rogers Corporation for $5.2 billion.
Cambrex is investing in a new R&D facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, expanding its capacity for small molecule development and manufacturing.
Leading international distributor Brenntag has acquired the life science business of Ravenswood, strengthening its position in the Australian and New Zealand specialties market. The deal is expected to close next month.
US biopharma PTC Therapeutics has entered into a financing collaboration with private equity group Blackstone so that it can achieve its goal of delivering at least one therapy every two-to-three years.
Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant has completed the takeover of BASF’s US-based attapulgite business assets.
