Is the grass really always greener on the other side? Scarcely heard up to now above the din European chemical companies have been making about being disadvantaged by the US Inflation Reduction Act, which subsidizes “green investment” by American companies, their US competitors are making noises of their own.
Days after the European Court of Justice ruled that EU member states could no longer grant temporary exemptions to farmers wanting to use expressly banned bee-toxic neonicotinoid pesticides, the brexited UK government granted emergency authorization for the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam to be used on sugar beet seeds.
In its second acquisition of the year so far, Azelis has agreed to buy Lidorr Elements, a leading Israeli specialty chemical distributor active in the crop protection, industrial materials and care & nutrition markets.
Through subsidiary NextChem Holding, Maire Tecnimont is taking an 83.5% stake in Italian technology licensor and process engineering design company Conser, expanding its portfolio into high-value specialty chemicals and biodegradable plastics.
Univar has entered into an agreement to buy Kale Kimya, a leading Turkish specialty chemicals distributor. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close during the first quarter of 2023, were not disclosed.
As part of a capacity increase for carboxylic acids, Oberhausen, Germany-based OQ Chemicals, part of Oman’s state-owned energy company OQ, is investing an undisclosed sum in an optimization and debottlenecking project for precursors at its German plants.
In its third fundraising round in less than two years, Hong Kong-listed globally active CDMO giant GenScript Biotech has netted a fresh $224 million capital injection for its biologics subsidiary ProBio, which was officially launched under that name in 2020.
Topsoe has been chosen by Beijing-based Mintal Hydrogen to provide its proprietary technology for a green ammonia plant in China. The 390,000 t/y plant, located in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, will be the first of its type in China, as well as Topsoe’s first power-to-X project in the country.
Financing for the $12 billion air separation unit gasification/power joint venture between US industrial gases producer Air Products and its Saudi subsidiary Air Products Qudra with Saudi Aramco and ACWA Power has moved forward another notch.
Indian drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is to buy US biotech Concert Pharmaceuticals, gaining access to the latter’s lead product candidate deuruxolitinib for treating an autoimmune dermatological disease.
In what some see as a landmark decision, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg has ruled that EU member states should no longer be allowed to grant temporary exemptions for use of bee-toxic neonicotinoid pesticides expressly prohibited by law.
Following shareholder approval of the plans at an extraordinary general meeting on Jan.18, industrial gases and plant engineering conglomerate Linde has announced it will delist its share from the Frankfurt stock exchange with effect from Mar. 1. In future, the company will trade only on the New York stock exchange, as an Irish holding.
German multinational engineering group Thyssenkrupp and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore a long-term partnership to create new markets for hydrogen and promote global clean energy value chains.
Solvay is investing an undisclosed sum at its site in Livorno, Italy, to launch its first circular highly dispersible silica (HDS), which is made with bio-based sodium silicate derived from rice husk ash.
BP is to conduct a feasibility study on building a new hydrogen hub in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The hub would include an industrial-scale ammonia cracker, which could provide up to 130,000 t/y of low-carbon hydrogen from 2028, with scope for further expansion as the market for future fuels develops.
At the beginning of 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stepped into a political hornet’s nest with its decision to allow retail pharmacies to dispense abortion pills over the counter. It is now fighting the backlash, so far successfully.
As well as serving as a financial partner to fledgling companies, the VC fund supports future efforts for business development and M&A opportunities within its own operations, Sanofi said. The fresh capital injection will also fuel the expansion and investment capacity of its own investment team on a global scale.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 cut a huge hole in the balance sheet of German chemical giant BASF. In preliminary figures published on Jan. 17, 2023, the Ludwigshafen group said it expected to post a related net loss of nearly €1.4 billion for the full year.
Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives, also known as Ta’ziz, has signed a shareholder agreement with fertilizer producer Fertiglobe, gas provider GS Energy and Japanese trading group Mitsui & Co to develop a 1 million t/y low-carbon ammonia plant at its proposed industrial chemicals complex in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi.
Ineos Enterprises has signed an agreement to buy MBCC Group’s admixture business from Sika. The deal is required by European antitrust regulators to approve Sika’s purchase of the MBCC Group, formerly BASF Construction Chemicals. The transaction is scheduled to complete in the first half of this year, subject to regulatory approvals.
Bayer is increasingly shifting the commercial focus of its pharmaceutical business away from Europe and toward the US and China, Stefan Oelrich, head of the German group’s pharmaceuticals arm, said in an interview with Financial Times during the JPMorgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco.
Stolthaven Terminals and partner Revivegen Environmental Technology have opened their joint venture terminal in Taiwan. The facility, operated by Stolthaven Revivegen Kaohsiung Terminal (SHRVK), will meet growing customer demand in the region and also introduce more international trade to Taiwan, the partners said.
Germany inaugurated its second liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal on Jan. 14 in the Baltic seacoast town of Lubmin, in the presence of chancellor Olaf Scholz and Manuela Schwesig, prime minister of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
US biopharma manufacturing and technology company National Resilience has entered into an agreement with Abu Dhabi investor Mubadala Investment Company to build a manufacturing plant in the United Arab Emirate’s biggest city. This will be the first GMP biopharma facility in the UAE.
The aim of Tokyo, Japan-headquartered Tsubame BHB is to commercialize on-site ammonia production at small-scale plants using an electride-based catalyst. The Company now received an order from Daiichi Jitsugyo for an ammonia synthesis facility to be introduced for the integrated demonstration test of blue hydrogen and ammonia production/utilization conducted by Inpex in Kashiwazaki in Japan’s Niigata Prefecture.
As it continues to leverage earnings from its top-selling mRNA-based Covid vaccine to deepen its existing knowhow, Mainz, Germany-based BioNtech has announced plans to acquire all of London-based artificial intelligence specialist InstaDeep.
US specialty chemicals and materials company Chemours will spend $200 million to increase capacity for its Nafion ion exchange membranes at its site in Villers-Saint-Paul, France.
Venator’s second-largest investor, Czech private equity fund J&T MS 1 SICAV, is asking for a seat on the board of the UK-headquartered multinational pigments and additives producer, citing major concerns about its financial underperformance and massive shareholder value destruction.
BASF has broken ground on the third and final phase of its expansion project for polyurethane precursor MDI at its integrated site in Geismar, Louisiana.
Canada’s Fluid Energy Group has sold its global modified and synthetic acid business, including the Triton industrial business, to Dorf Ketal FZE, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dorf Ketal Chemicals India, for an undisclosed sum.
As Bayer’s board prepares to search for a new CEO to succeed Werner Baumann, the German pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals group has attracted the attention of two activist investors interested in pulling its share price out of the doldrums and reaping the rewards.
Yara has announced plans to modify its ammonia terminals in Germany to help speed up the country’s hydrogen economy. CEO Svein Tore Holsether said the company has identified “substantial potential” to increase ammonia imports to Germany in line with growing market demand.
AstraZeneca has entered into an agreement to buy CinCor Pharma, a US-based clinical-stage biopharma focused on developing novel treatments for resistant and uncontrolled hypertension as well as chronic kidney disease.
Leading active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturer EuroAPI plans to invest €40 million at its site in Saint-Aubin-lès-Elbeuf, France, to launch a new production technology for vitamin B12. Full capacity is expected to be reached by 2027.
QatarEnergy said it has made a final decision to go ahead with delayed $6 billion Ras Laffan Petrochemicals Complex to be realized with US multinational partner Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem).
