Ineos is pressing full speed ahead to implement its investment strategy for green hydrogen across Europe. In its latest move, the company said it is participating in a project with SGN, the network that distributes natural and “green” gas across the south of England as well as Scotland, to build a UK-wide delivery network for hydrogen.
Mergers & acquisitions activity in the chemical distribution industry was high in 2021, but current macro-economic conditions may have a dampening effect on the number of deals that will conclude by the end of this year.
A US court has awarded Huntsman damages in a long-running legal battle against Praxair, now part of Linde. A New Orleans jury has granted the Texas-headquartered chemical manufacturer nearly $94 million, which will exceed $125 million once the Court has applied interest.
Arxada, the recent specialty chemicals spinoff from Swiss CDMO Lonza, has signed an exclusive license agreement with Novoset covering production and sale of a next generation hydrocarbon-based resin system for telecommunications infrastructure and advanced semiconductor packaging.
German polyamide specialist Domo Chemicals said it plans to significantly increase its PA 6 compounding capacity in China up to the end of 2023. As this is the fastest growing market for polyamides globally, the company based at Leuna said the expansion will help local manufacturers keep pace with emerging trends and create “innovative, high-performance and sustainable products and applications.”
Symeres, a Dutch CDMO and contract research organization, has acquired Organix, a US-based specialized organic chemistry services producer that focuses on lipids. The two firms are highly complementary and the combination unlocks significant strategic value, said Symeres, which generates nearly 50% of its revenues in the US.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is taking over Mubadala’s holding in Borealis for an undisclosed sum. Once the transaction, which is subject to the usual conditions and regulatory approvals, is finalized, Borealis will be owned 25% by ADNOC and 75% by Austrian oil, gas and petrochemicals group OMV.
Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP), a Belgian-based facility that provides process development, scale-up and custom manufacture of bio-based products and processes, has formed a 50:50 joint venture with Thailand’s National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) to build a multi-purpose, open-access biorefinery pilot plant, inspired by its own success in installing an identical facility in Ghent.
Germany’s Merck has signed has an agreement with the Administrative Management Committee of Wuxi National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone to “significantly expand” the company’s first Asia-Pacific Mobius Single-Use manufacturing center in China.
Air Products has won a contract from one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers to supply industrial gases to a new production plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Air Products San Fu will invest about $900 million to build, own and operate a number of onsite plants to supply ultra-high purity nitrogen, oxygen, argon and hydrogen.
The investment arm of US industrial group Standard Industries has taken a 5.23% stake in UK-based multinational specialty chemicals and sustainable technologies company Johnson Matthey. Neither company has commented on the transaction.
The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) announced the 2022 Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) Category Winners – including an Honorable Mention for Iovance Biotherapeutics, to be the first company in the world to commercially produce a personalized therapy for solid tumors.
UK biopharma Achilles Therapeutics has announced its intention to expand clinical manufacturing capacity in Stevenage, UK, and Pennsylvania, USA.
One of China’s key objectives of the current 14th Five-Year Plan is to reduce the dependency on imports. At least partly, this is a reaction to rising political tensions with the USA.
WuXi Advanced Therapies (Wuxi ATU), US-based CDMO offshoot of WuXi AppTec, is joining up with Singapore’s Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) to advance cell and gene therapy production in the Asia Pacific region.
Like those of other chemical industry players, shareholders attending Bayer’s virtual annual general meeting on Apr. 29 had a full agenda to deal with, though their list was undoubtedly one of the longest. Along with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they discussed potential plans to split pharma and crop science, the timetable for finally ending Roundup litigation and the size of executives’ bonuses.
Shell is the first company to sign an agreement to use the HyTransPort hydrogen pipeline in the Netherlands that will run for 32km from Maasvlakte in the Port of Rotterdam to Pernis. Gasunie is laying the pipeline in collaboration with the Port of Rotterdam Authority.
French petrochemicals, plastics and energy group TotalEnergies has taken a $4.1 billion writedown on its flagship Russian gas exploration project and is seen to have softened its position on exiting the country despite earlier statements that it could not pull out.
Johnson Matthey and Schaeffler, a leading supplier to the automotive and industrial industries, are working with Bekaert, a provider of porous transport layers for proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, and research institute TNO to bring a step-change in the efficiency of electroyzers used to produce hydrogen.
“In light of the war of aggression against Ukraine ordered by the Russian government,” BASF announced has on Apr. 27 that it has decided to wind down all of its remaining business activities in Russia and Belarus at the beginning of July.
Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant has wrapped up an internal investigation into accounting irregularities in its 2020 financial results, unveiled minor adjustments to that year’s originally stated figures and published preliminary earnings figures for 2021, which it had held back pending completion of the probe.
Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy group Masdar and Egypt’s Hassan Allam Utilities have signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with leading Egyptian state-based organizations to develop green hydrogen production plans in the Suez Canal Economic Zone and on the Mediterranean coast.
Bachem, a Swiss specialist in the development manufacture and manufacture of peptides and oligonucleotides, has entered into a strategic collaboration with major drugmaker Eli Lilly.
Sanofi has joined forces with McLaren Racing in a move it hopes will accelerate its manufacturing efficiency and performance drive. As the French drugmaker’s CEO Paul Hudson put it, “we want to run our lines with the speed, precision and efficiency of a Formula One racing team.”
Asahi Kasei Medical, through a US subsidiary, has agreed to buy biologics CDMO Bionova Scientific for an undisclosed sum. Located in Fremont, California, Bionova provides process development services to biopharmaceutical companies, especially those developing next-generation antibody-based drugs.
An updated version of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is claimed to produce a stronger immune response against major variants of the coronavirus, including omicron and delta, compared to the shot currently administered.
UK thermoplastics and elastomers distributor Distrupol has acquired Finnish competitor Baritec for an undisclosed sum. The company said the acquisition, expected to be completed by the end of April, will strengthen its presence in the Baltic States and Finland.
British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline is facing what could be the first industrial action in its history. Some 86% of its employees organized in the trade union Unite at manufacturing sites across the UK voted last week to go on strike, rejecting a pay increase of 4%.
US specialty chemical company Milliken is expanding the facilities it acquired last March when it took over Germany’s Zebra-chem. Located in Bad Bentheim, Zebra-chem is a specialty compounder and chemicals company that makes additive and blowing agent concentrates for polyolefins, PVC and engineering thermoplastics.
Charles River Laboratories, a US specialist provider of laboratory, gene and cell therapy services, has acquired Explora BioLabs for approximately $295 million in cash.
US biotech Regeneron is buying compatriot clinical-stage biopharma Checkmate Pharmaceuticals for a total equity value of about $250 million. The acquisition, expected to close in mid-2022, will boost Regeneron’s portfolio of diverse and combinable immuno-oncology candidates.
Catalent has announced it will spend $350 million over several years to expand biologics drug substance and drug product manufacturing capabilities at its Bloomington, Indiana, USA, headquarters. Ultimately, the additions are expected to add more than 1,000 new jobs to the site’s workforce.
LyondellBasell (LYB) is finally calling it quits on the refinery business and has announced plans to close its Houston facility “no later than December 31, 2023.” The plant in the Houston Ship Channel has a rated capacity to transform 268,000 barrels per day of crude oil into transportation fuels and other products including lubricants, chemical intermediates and petroleum coke.
DSM has agreed to sell its protective materials business, which primarily includes its Dyneema fiber brand, to US specialty polymer materials maker Avient for an enterprise value of $1.485 billion. The deal, which is expected to close in the second half of this year, follows DSM’s strategic review of the business last September.
Swiss chemicals company Clariant has entered into a cooperation agreement for its Sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology with Technip Energies. The technology converts agricultural residues, woody materials or municipal solid wastes into cellulosic sugars, which are then fermented into cellulosic ethanol.
