A month after buying its way out of prosecution in the long-running US litigation against opioid makers for $263 million, Johnson & Johnson is now said to be weighing plans to offload liabilities from lawsuits charging that its talc-based baby powder causes ovarian cancer or mesothelioma and, alternatively, that it contains asbestos.
European PVC and chlor-alkali producer Vynova has announced plans to build a plant for liquid potassium carbonate at its site in Tessenderlo, Belgium, replacing an existing facility. The company will invest €4 million in the new plant, which is expected to be operational by mid-2022. Construction is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2021.
Private equity group New Mountain Capital has acquired Ascensus Specialties, a provider of specialty materials headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, USA. Financial details were not disclosed. The former majority shareholder Wind Point Partners will reinvest in Ascensus in partnership with New Mountain. Wind Point acquired Ascensus in January 2015 from Dow Chemical.
To gain a berth in the sustainable industrial coatings market, Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC), a 45% affiliate of Bangkok-based, state-owned energy major PTT, is paying Advent International €4 billion for the private equity giant’s Germany-based Allnex resins portfolio company. The selling price is more than 12 times last year’s EBITDA.
Azelis has made two acquisitions this month to date, both in South Korea. The most recent agreement, announced on Jul. 14, is the proposed takeover of Seoul-headquartered Coseal, which specializes in the distribution, repackaging and blending of agricultural/horticultural surfactants.
The bark of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) evidently is worse than its bite – which in the case of AstraZeneca’s $39 billion acquisition of Alexion was none at all. Only a week after European authorities approved the deal, the CMA also gave the green light, without voicing any competition concerns. With this behind it, the two drugmakers are free to merge by Jul. 21.
Building on the Green Deal it rolled out at the end of 2019 and the European Climate Law that goes into effect this month, the European Commission on Jul. 14, concretized its long anticipated targets toward putting the EU at the forefront of political blocs dealing with climate change.
Air Liquide, Borealis, TotalEnergies, Esso and Yara International have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the development of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure project to help decarbonize their facilities in Normandy, France.
Japan’s Fujifilm has pledged an investment package of about $850 million to accelerate the growth of its core bio CDMO subsidiary Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies by expanding capabilities at undisclosed locations in the US and UK. Initial engineering studies are underway and the projects are scheduled to begin operating by late 2023.
Only a day after announcing it was changing its name to Curia, the US CDMO known up to now as AMRI announced a “definitive agreement” to acquire Integrity Bio, a privately held biologics formulation and fill & finish organization headquartered in Camarillo, California.
Spanish energy and petrochemicals group Repsol has announced plans to build new polymer plants at its Sines complex in Portugal. The €657 million project, it said, represents the largest industrial investment in Portugal in the past 10 years.
The prospects for Johnson & Johnson’s viral vector vaccine to play a major role in the global inoculation against Covid-19 in the developed world are looking increasingly dim. The latest blow is that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing to mandate a warning label that the vaccine can lead to an increased risk of Guillain–Barré syndrome, a rare but serious neurological condition.
Lanxess and Wacker have become the first two chemical companies to join Foundation 2°, a German corporate initiative lobbying for effective market-based conditions for climate protection and recognition of the “problem-solving skills of German companies.”
Chemical distributor Petrochem Middle East and multinational logistics group DP World are collaborating to develop a chemical terminal in Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
UK investment group Investindustrial has exited Polynt-Reichhold, selling its shareholding to partner and compatriot private equity firm Black Diamond Capital Management. The deal is expected to close within six months, subject to receiving the necessary regulatory approvals. Upon closing, Black Diamond will be Polynt-Reichhold’s controlling shareholder.
Pharma giant Pfizer plans to ask the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine it makes with Germany’s BioNTech. The company said it will file an application within the next month.
US coatings company Axalta has entered into an agreement to buy U-POL Holdings, a UK manufacturer of repair and refinish products for the automotive industry, from private equity owner Graphite Capital Management. Closing is expected to for the second half of 2021. The purchase at about $590 million.
Nouryon, the former specialty chemical business of AkzoNobel, has completed the spin-out of its base chemicals business, Nobian. The latter company will be held separately by Nouryon’s private equity owners, the Carlyle Group and GIC.
German pharmaceuticals, chemicals and life sciences group Merck has signed two collaboration agreements in its new bioelectronics innovation field, which it said builds on and combines its experience and expertise in its Healthcare and Electronics business segments.
Dow has announced a series of “incremental, high-return” capacity expansions around the world to support fast-growing demand across key end-markets.
Maersk Saudi Arabia, part of Danish shipping and logistics giant A.P. Moller – Maersk, has entered into a strategic partnership with King Abdullah Port to provide services for the Kingdom’s petrochemical exporters. The partners will set up the Maersk Integrated Logistics Hub, a non-bonded warehouse for handling and storing cargoes.
EU competition authorities have approved AstraZeneca’s $39 billion takeover of US biopharma Alexion. Europe’s green light for the deal sealed in December 2020 follows the approval of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in April 2021.
US semiconductor equipment maker MKS Instruments is buying German specialty chemicals and equipment company Atotech for an enterprise value of $6.5 billion in a combined cash-and-stock deal. The acquisition is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2021. MKS will fund the cash portion of the transaction with funds to hand and debt financing.
In the aftermath of a far-reaching mix-up of Astra Zeneca’s Covid vaccine ingredients with those of Johnson & Johnson’s shot, US CDMO Emergent BioSolutions not only has lost half of its stock market value but is also facing shareholder lawsuits related to other offenses, including securities fraud.
Companies outside the drugs and private equity sectors are increasingly striking deals to buy pharmaceutical companies. In one of the latest, cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris has bought oral drug delivery specialist Fertin Pharma. Seller is private equity investor EQT Private Equity.
German specialty chemicals producer Pulcra Chemicals has acquired Belgium’s Devan for an undisclosed sum. The deal is the first in Pulcra’s history. The Geretsried-headquartered company, which supplies process chemicals to the textile and leather industries, was previously the process chemicals business of Cognis. It was carved out in separate legal entities on Jul. 1, 2007, and renamed.
AGC Biologics, US biopharma CDMO, has signed an agreement to buy a cell and gene therapy manufacturing facility in Longmont, Colorado, from Novartis Gene Therapies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
With an eye toward the growing electric vehicle market, BASF has announced it will build a battery recycling prototype plant at the site of its cathode active materials (CAM) production facility in Schwarzheide, Germany.
Emma Walmsley, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, under attack from activist investor Elliott Management, has received the backing of the company’s board, which said it “strongly believes” she is the “right leader” for the UK’s largest drugmaker after the planned spinoff of its consumer health business and “fully supports” the steps she’s taking to improve performance.”
The board of Indian state-owned oil, gas and petrochemicals group Indian Oil has approved the construction of a styrene plant, the country’s first.
Lonza has completed the carve-out of its Specialty Ingredients business as LSI and appointed a management team led by CEO Mark Doyle, a former DuPont and DowDuPont chief. The newly independent company with a workforce of 2,900 and a global presence in 32 countries is now owned by Herens HoldCo, an entity controlled by private equity firms Bain Capital and Cinven.
Kemira is expanding capacity of water treatment chemicals in Yanzhou, China, as it progresses its growth strategy in Asia-Pacific.
Dow and Shell have secured funding from the Dutch government and are also linking up with two research organizations to accelerate progress in the joint cracker electrification development program that they announced about a year ago. The technology has the potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from one of the chemical industry’s most central processes.
Definitive results from CureVac’s 40,000-subject international Phase 2b/3 trial with its mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV, have confirmed an earlier finding that it is only about 48% effective in preventing infection of any severity across the “unprecedented” 15 strains of the virus encountered during the tests with participants in Latin America and Europe.
Solvay has appointed Pascal Chalvon Demersay to chief sustainability and government affairs officer, effective July 1, 2021, integrating the new responsibilities to his current role as chief sustainability officer.
