For its annual report "Value Creation in Chemicals 2022 – Building Resilience as the Crisis Unfolds," the strategy consultancy Boston Consulting Group examined the performance of leading international chemical companies between 2017 and 2021. The results show that the chemical industry, even in difficult times, has outperformed other sectors.
Italian companies Saipem and Garbo have agreed to collaborate to commercialize the latter’s proprietary depolymerization technology, called ChemPET. The process converts waste PET into high-quality, high-value PET that can be reused in the chemical and food industries.
Saudi Aramco and Linde Engineering have agreed to jointly develop new ammonia cracking technology and plan to build a demonstration plant in northern Germany.
As part of what seems to be a general pattern of staff reductions in the pharmaceutical industry worldwide, a growing number of Western drugmakers are downsizing their sales and marketing presence in India.
Clear incentive for drug manufacturers to equip their production facilities with the capacity to process highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (HPAPIs). HPAPIs now account for 25% of all drugs produced globally, with some analysts projecting that it will reach a value of $40 billion by 2027.
The world's largest insulin producers, Eli Lilly, NovoNordisk and Sanofi are now marching (almost) in lockstep to reduce US market prices, but not without tossing sideward barbs at the system.
Dutch coatings technology specialist Stahl has completed the acquisition of ICP Industrial Solutions Group (ISG). The major producer of high-performance coatings for packaging and labeling applications is a division of Innovative Chemical Products (ICP).
US agrochemicals company Albaugh has acquired DuPont spinoff Corteva Agriscience’s straight-goods glyphosate business for an undisclosed sum. The deal is for intangible assets only, such as trade names, registrations, regulatory data, formulations, patents and know-how used worldwide, excluding Argentina.
In this interview, Jinling Chen, head of WuXi STA’s drug product business, and Jamie Andrews, site head of WuXi STA’s Couvet facility, explain the company’s strategy and the goals of the European expansion.
Historically, China’s chemical industry has mainly been located in coastal provinces, with Shandong as the biggest and Jiangsu as the second biggest province by chemical sales, while the coastal regions of Hebei, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Liaoning and Guangdong are also among the top ten producers of chemicals.
2021 was historic for chemical M&As, it was a record-breaking year in terms of total value of deals. Therefore, it was expected that 2022 would only build upon this. However, the combination of high interest rates, supply chain bottlenecks and geopolitical instability saw both the number and value of deals take a significant hit throughout 2022.
Oqema has announced its acquisition of Stera Chemicals, one of the largest distributors of chemical raw materials in Romania.
Companies in the materials industry – including chemical companies – are seeing a revolution that is likely to drive a new wave of growth. To succeed, however, they will need to rethink their value chains, expand manufacturing in the region, and take advantage of digitally powered approaches to innovation.
Sandoz, the generics and biosimilars arm of Swiss drugmaker Novartis, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build a biologics production plant in Lendava, Slovenia.
Lummus Technology has received a contract to supply multiple technologies to Butadiene LLP for a new petrochemical complex in Atyrau, Kazakhstan.
Ahead of a summit of EU leaders on Mar. 23-24, the European Commission has shaken out a cornucopia of proposals to stimulate green investment in the 27-member bloc.
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk has added its name to the list of insulin producers cutting prices for US retail buyers, following up on Eli Lilly’s announcement of price cuts and in response to growing pressure from the White House.
Bayer is looking to spend $1 billion on drug research and development in the United States during 2023 as part of a plan to double its sales in the country by the end of the decade.
Private equity group Apollo has agreed to acquire Univar Solutions for $8.1 billion. The transaction also includes a “minority” investment from a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
On Jan. 1, 2023, the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (“LkSG”) came into force in Germany.
Examples of national logistics solutions in the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium show how high availability and low costs can be brought down to a common denominator.
Pfizer has agreed to acquire Seagen, a global biotech focused on developing cancer treatments, for $43 billion. The announcement comes just a couple of weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported that the two companies were in talks.
Paris-based French drugmaker Sanofi has agreed to acquire Provention Bio for $25 per share in cash, representing an equity value of about $2.9 billion. The publicly traded US biopharma focuses on intercepting and preventing immune-mediated diseases including type 1 diabetes (T1D).
US biopharma Sumitovant – a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Sumitomo Pharma – has closed its purchase of the remaining equity in Myovant Sciences, taking full control of the Swiss clinical-stage biopharma for about $1.7 billion. Myovant will now be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
As the discussion surrounding the high price of insulin in the US continues unabated, drugmaker Eli Lilly implemented price reductions of 70% for its most commonly prescribed insulin products at the beginning of March.
LyondellBasell has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mepol Group, a manufacturer of recycled, high-performing engineering compounds based in Italy and Poland.
Finnish technology and engineering company Coolbrook has signed a partnership agreement with Germany’s Linde Engineering to develop and deploy its RotoDynamic Reactor (RDR) technology that replaces fossil fuels with clean electricity for heating the furnaces in ethylene crackers.
In the presence of Danish royalty, Ineos and Wintershall Dea, lead players in 23-member Project Greensand consortium, last week inaugurated what is being touted as the world’s first safe injection of carbon dioxide – into a depleted North Sea oil field operated by Ineos.
Clinical stage biotechs Adaptimmune and TCR2 Therapeutics have agreed to merge, forming what they said would be a “preeminent cell therapy company focused on creating solid tumors” with projected sales of about $27 billion by 2026.
Gas shipping company Navigator Holdings is expanding the capacity of its ethylene export terminal near Houston, Texas, USA, that it operates as a 50:50 joint venture with Enterprise Products Partners.
The mood of the German chemical industry brightened at the beginning of 2023 on the back of a sharp downslide in the last quarter of 2022, when production slumped by 14%, producers operated plants at around three-quarters of capacity, demand sank and sales declined both in domestic and foreign markets.
German chemicals, pharmaceuticals and life sciences group Merck and US semiconductors giant Intel have signed a letter of intent to fund a European academic research program that will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies to drive innovation.
US specialty chemicals company Solenis is to take over disinfectant producer Diversey Holdings in an all-cash transaction valued at about $4.6 billion, including debt.
BASF is expanding its global capacity for aroma ingredients citral, menthol and lnaloon at existing locations in China and Germany. The biggest investment will involve construction of a new citral plant at its growing integrated site in Zhanjiang, China. New plants for menthol and linalool will to be built at Ludwigshafen.
Swedish chemical company Perstorp has selected Johnson Matthey to provide the license and engineering for its Product Air methanol plant at Stenungsund.
