Bachem, a Swiss specialist developer and manufacturer of peptides and oligonucleotides, has signed another order worth more than 500 million Swiss francs – or $531 million – to supply large volumes of peptides following a joint development project. The identity of the customer has not been disclosed.
Independent French specialty chemicals distributor Safic-Alcan has acquired UK engineering plastics distributor 4PLAS for an undisclosed sum.
US specialty chemicals producer Cabot has chosen Münster, Germany, as the site of a planned new technology center to guide its efforts toward meeting the growing demand for electric vehicle (EV) lithium-ion batteries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Solvay has now finalized terms to sell its half share in Russian PVC producer RusVinyl to its joint venture partner Sibur.
US vaccine maker Moderna has chosen the Harwell Science Campus in Oxfordshire, England, as the location for its planned UK Innovation and Technology Center which is expected to be in operation by 2025.
Danish pharma Novo Nordisk is expanding its R&D capabilities in Boston, Massachusetts, US, which will lead to the closure of a facility in Indianapolis and a restructuring of its Seattle operations.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) has netted $2.5 billion from the initial public offering of its subsidiary ADNOC Gas. The biggest-ever issue in Abu Dhabi, topping the $2 billion Borouge listing in mid-2022, was oversubscribed more than 50 times as investors placed offers worth $124 billion for a 5% stake in the United Arab Emirates-based firm.
BP is investing up to €2 billion in a green hydrogen plant at its Castellon refinery in Spain, replacing the site’s existing fossil-fuel based facility and expanding production of biofuels threefold. The project is the basis of a public-private initiative named HyVal and led by BP to decarbonize the Valencia region, including the Castellon refinery.
Clean Cells, part of France’s Clean Biologics group, which provides biopharmaceutical product quality control services and manufactures starting materials, has begun analytical activities at its new €22 million facility in Montaigu-Vendée, near Nantes.
Hanno Scheffczik has been appointed as the new Managing Director of Temmler Pharma, a member of the Aenova Group. Effective Mar. 1, 2023, he succeeds Alfred Veit, who is retiring.
Under US president Joe Biden, the Department of Justice has been moving energetically of late to uncover and prosecute offenses that might otherwise have been swept under heavy rugs, including Covid-related API manufacturing contracts won under unclear circumstances.
In its second deal of 2023 so far, IMCD has acquired Orange Chemicals, a distributor covering the coatings & construction, advanced materials and other industrial markets in the UK and Ireland.
Invibio Material Solutions, the medical business of UK high-performance polymer producer Victrex, has opened a new product development facility in Leeds in order to accelerate commercialization of future applications.
With the completion of its acquisition of Huntsman Textile Effects on Feb. 28, Swiss specialty chemicals producer Archroma, a portfolio company of US private investment firm SK Capital Partners, has revamped its operational structure.
Acting on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the US Department of Justice has ordered Japanese plastics and rubber producer Denka Performance Elastomer to “significantly reduce” hazardous chloroprene emissions from its neoprene plant in LaPlace, Louisiana.
Solvay has agreed with EnergyRe to buy all renewable energy certificates generated by the latter’s Lone Star Solar project in Calhoun County, South Carolina, USA.
Pfizer is in the early stage of talks to acquire Seagen (formerly Seattle Genetics), a US biotech focused on developing treatments for cancer, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal that cited people familiar with the matter. The purchase price could potentially be more than $30 billion.
Brenntag has expanded its capabilities in South Africa with the purchase of a Johannesburg facility focused on water treatment solutions. The purchase price was not disclosed.
At his last – virtual – annual results press conference before handing over the CEO’s job to Bill Anderson in May, in addition to reviewing figures for 2022 and trying to assess the still clouded look for 2023, outgoing Bayer chief Werner Baumann took the opportunity to criticize the US legal system.
ExxonMobil has signed a Heads of Agreement with South Korea’s SK Inc. to collaborate on blue ammonia. Under the terms of the deal, SK expects to offtake supplies of blue ammonia from ExxonMobil’s proposed hydrogen and ammonia facility in Baytown, Texas, USA.
German chemical producer Evonik is investing in battery maker Hefei Haizhou New Material Co (SuperC), a Chinese company specialized in graphene materials, which it describes as a technological leader in materials that improve the range, robustness, charging speed and service life of lithium batteries.
US chemical group Celanese is extending one existing strategic collaboration with Japan’s Mitsui and establishing a new one. Added to the 50:50 methanol joint venture will be a new 30:70 JV in food ingredients, in which the Japanese partner will hold the majority.
The South African start-up EL MAT Sustainable Solutions found a way to produce electricity, purified water and fertilizers from wastewater – without the introduction of hazardous materials or expensive feedstocks.
Major changes are in store for BASF, as the world’s largest chemical producer comes to grips with severe pressure on profits from soaring energy prices.
Imperative Chemical Partners and RSI Chemicals – both based in Texas, USA – are merging to form what they said will be one of the largest oil & gas chemicals businesses focused on the US land market.
Avantium is partnering with Origin Materials to accelerate the mass production of furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and plant-based, fully recyclable plastic, polyethylene furanoate (PEF).
Spanish companies CEPSA and Fertiberia – two of the country’s largest hydrogen consumers – have agreed to jointly develop a large-scale green hydrogen plant in Huelva, decarbonizing both their production processes.
German engineering plastics producer Covestro has decided to build its largest-ever thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) site at Zhuhai, China.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has received $550 million from the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to spend on measures to remediate pollution and in some cases protect communities from toxic emissions.
Solvay’s venture capital fund has joined the Genesis Consortium, a global alliance of venture capital firms and corporations that support startups leveraging biotechnology to promote both human and planetary health.
US-based international contractor Fluor has been awarded a reimbursable contract to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) and engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for Dow’s proposed cracker and derivatives project in Canada.
Ineos has at last clinched a deal that its founder Jim Ratcliffe has had in his sights for about a decade. The UK-steered olefins and polyolefins giant this week announced it had plunked down $1.4 billion to acquire its first US onshore oil and gas assets.
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is moving to advance the petition to restrict the use of poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs submitted in January by the environmental authorities of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
In 2021, the new patent law came into force in China. It represents a significant strengthening of protection against patent infringements.
Johnson Matthey and BP have won a contract to license their co-developed Fischer Tropsch CANS technology to Strategic Biofuels for that company’s Louisiana Green Fuels (LGF) project in the US state’s Caldwell Parish.
