US specialty materials manufacturer Aceto and 10 other companies with business operations in North America, Europe, India and China have merged into a new cross-industry player called Actylis, under the umbrella of private equity investor New Mountain Capital.
British-multinational consumer products giant Unilever has announced that its chief executive, Alan Jope, will retire at the end of 2023. The potentially earlier than planned departure announcement had been anticipated.
Michael Bloomberg, the founder of US-based financial, software, data and media group Bloomberg LP and a United Nations special envoy on climate ambition and solutions, has launched a campaign to stop the expansion of petrochemicals and plastics production in the US.
Celanese has offered concessions to EU regulators to allay concerns about its proposed $11 billion acquisition of DuPont’s Mobility and Materials business, according to Reuters.
Italian API producer Olon has announced plans to install a new high-containment production line at its site in Mahad, India.
BASF has entered into an exclusive licensing deal with US start-up RiKarbon to commercialize the latter’s proprietary emollient technology.
Air Liquide, Chevron, PetroChina and Keppel Infrastructure are planning to form a consortium that will explore the development of large-scale carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) solutions and integrated infrastructure in Singapore.
Bachem, a Swiss specialist developer and manufacturer of peptides and oligonucleotides, has announced the signing of two major contracts for supplying large volumes of peptides over the next two years. The orders are worth 25 million and 150 million Swiss francs for 2023 and 2024, respectively.
During this year’s K show, SABIC will highlight its commitment to circular, sustainable solutions designed to reduce plastic waste and support the shift to product electrification.
Swiss-based and Chinese-owned agrochemicals company Syngenta has entered into a global commercial and R&D collaboration with Bioceres, a US-based provider of biological inoculants. Implementation of the agreement is subject to regulatory clearances.
Roquette, a French-based provider of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical excipients, has acquired Crest Cellulose, an Indian excipient manufacturer, reinforcing its presence in India and Asia.
Solvay has announced plans to expand its rare earths operations in La Rochelle, France, in order to enter the permanent magnets sector in Europe and serve customers in the fast-growing electric vehicle, wind power and electronics markets.
Finnish oil refiner Neste has launched a study on transforming its Porvoo facility to renewables and circular feedstocks, ending crude oil refining in the mid-2030s.
Haldor Topsoe and First Ammonia have entered into a capacity reservation agreement that they said will kickstart the global market for green ammonia.
Danish coatings company Hempel has acquired Cap Couleurs’ store network in southeastern France, maintaining its segment leadership in the Var region and supporting its growth initiatives. Financial terms were not disclosed.
German specialty chemicals producer Lanxess and private equity group Advent International have named Calum MacLean as CEO-designate of their planned joint venture for high-performance engineering plastics.
Koch Technology Solutions, the licensing arm of Koch Engineered Solutions, is partnering Ioniqa Technologies, a Dutch clean-tech spinoff from the Eindhoven University of Technology, to scale up and commercialize the latter’s advanced PET recycling process.
Henkel has acquired US advanced materials start-up NBD Nanotechnologies for an undisclosed sum. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, NBD specializes in developing coatings and additives with surface wettability.
CEO Werner Baumann may be headed for an early exit from Bayer, Bloomberg reports.
US specialty chemicals company Stepan has agreed to acquire the surfactant business and associated assets of compatriot firm PerformanX Specialty Chemicals. The purchase will include intellectual property, commercial relationships and inventory.
Singapore’s Global Amines – a joint venture between compatriot company Wilmar and Switzerland’s Clariant – has successfully started up a new fatty amines plant in Surabaya, Indonesia.
French industrial gases group Air Liquide has announced the sale of its industrial merchant business in Saudi Arabia to Abdullah Hashim Industrial Gases & Equipment for an undisclosed sum.
LyondellBasell has won two separate contracts to supply its Lupotech T high-pressure technology for new PE plants.
Kemira has agreed to sell its colorants dye business to Chromascape, a US-based specialty colorants and additives supplier.
WuXi STA has opened a sterile lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulation development and manufacturing facility at its campus in Wuxi city, China, in response to rising demand for complex injection dosage forms.
Indian specialty chemicals company Calibre Chemicals has agreed to acquire RheinPerChemie (RPC) from Evonik. Based in Rheinfelden, Germany, RPC manufactures ammonium and sodium persulfates.
French engineering groups Axens and Doris have entered into a partnership to develop integrated carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) services.
IMCD has taken over Japanese specialty distribution company Kuni Chemical for an undisclosed sum. Kuni specializes in industrial applications that range from coatings and construction to automotive and packaging materials.
Portuguese CDMO Hovione has expanded its continuous manufacturing capabilities with the start-up of a new facility at Loures. The company said it can now offer customers a commercial continuous tableting platform to support their key needs.
German science and technology company Merck has announced plans to invest more than €130 million at its site in Molsheim, France, to expand capacities for single-use assemblies, a key technology for producing Covid-19 vaccines and other therapies.
Solvay is launching a pilot project at its site in Dombasle, France, to validate a more sustainable process for producing soda ash.
Denmark’s Novo Nordisk has entered into a global license and development with compatriot biotech Zealand Pharma for the latter’s Zegalogue (dasiglucagon) injectable diabetes treatment.
In advance of the planned spinoff of generics subsidiary Sandoz into a standalone generics producer, Novartis has announced it is closing one of the subsidiary’s US plants.
Lonza has entered into a collaboration with Touchlight, a biotechnology company with patented technology for producing enzymatic DNA. The enzymatic manufacturing process is said to enable GMP production at “unprecented speed, scale and purity.”
BASF Schwarzheide, subsidiary of the German-multinational chemical group, together with local east German utility company Envia Mitteldeutsche Energie, has commissioned the region’s first solar farm. The project was announced by BASF last year as part of its plans to focus on renewable energy for its chemical production.
