German chemical giant BASF and its Chinese joint venture partner Sinopec have unveiled plans to expand several downstream plants at the Nanjing petrochemicals complex they operate under the name BASF-YPC. The expansion will cover propionic acid, propionic aldehyde, ethyleneamines, ethanolamines and purified ethylene oxide.
US bioplastics company Danimer Scientific has agreed to pay $152 million cash for Novomer, a developer and producer of biodegradable materials. Both companies’ boards of directors have approved the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter.
LyondellBasell (LYB) has announced it is restarting its polymers and olefins units at La Porte, Texas, USA, where a production facility was hit by an acetic acid leak on Jul. 27, killing two people and injuring 30 others.
The European Commission has finalized an advance purchase agreement with Novavax covering 100 million doses of the US biotech’s protein-based Covid-19 vaccine initially, combined with an option to take an additional 100 million doses by 2023.
Nouryon has agreed to license its Continuous Initiator Dosing (CiD) technology for PVC production to China’s Shaanxi Beiyuan Chemical Group for five years. The Dutch chemical company will also supply its Trigonox 187 proprietary CiD initiator, which it will produce at its site in Tianjin, China.
BASF and Eni have agreed to jointly develop new technology to produce bio-propanol from glycerin, a byproduct from the production of industrial biodiesel, or fatty acid methyl ester (FAME).
French drugmaker Sanofi has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Translate Bio, the clinical-stage mRNA therapeutics company with which it is currently cooperating on a Covid-19 vaccine. Both boards have unanimously approved the proposed all-cash transaction.
US CDMO Curia, formerly AMRI, has agreed to acquire LakePharma, a privately held biologics drug discovery, clinical research, development and manufacturing organization. Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
Ineos has sold its Sulphur Chemicals business to International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG), the fine chemicals platform of the Luxembourg- and Germany-based industrial private equity investor. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
BioNTech has launched a new project aimed at developing what it hopes will be a well-tolerated and highly effective malaria vaccine for the African continent. The Mainz, Germany-based company, which developed a Covid-19 vaccine together with Pfizer in only ten months, said its goal is to produce the malaria vaccine locally.
In its fourth acquisition this year to date, IMCD has agreed to buy Materias Quimicas de Mexico (Maquimex) for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to close during August.
Haldor Topsoe has formed a joint venture with Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum to build a plant in Shaanxi Fupin in China to produce methanol synthesis catalysts for the Chinese market.
US biopharma Amgen has agreed to buy privately held clinical-stage biotech Teneobio in a deal worth up to $2.5 billion. The acquisition will expand Amgen’s antibody development capabilities for drugs to treat cancer and other diseases in the firm’s core therapeutic areas.
US biotech Regeneron is collaborating with AstraZeneca to research, develop and commercialize small molecule medicines targeting GPR75 for treating obesity.
Clariant has expanded and enhanced capacity for emission control catalysts at its plant in Heufeld, Germany, in order to meet growing demand worldwide, and especially in China.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the UK’s largest drugmaker, plans to establish a new life sciences campus within its R&D site at Stevenage, England. The company said it is financing the project with the £400 million intake from selling land at the site.
Two fatal accidents, one in Germany, another in the US, rocked the international chemical industry on Jul 26 and 27, killing at least four workers. Another five people were still missing and feared dead on Jul. 28.
US engineering contractor KBR has won a contract from Haifa Group to expand nitric acid capacity at two plants at Mishor Rotem, Israel.
DSM has paid $63 million to take full control of Midori USA, a biotech start-up based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Dutch group already owned 38.5% of Midori and has now acquired the remaining 61.5%.
Brenntag has completed two purchases in China within its Specialties division. On Jul. 23, it closed the acquisition of the first tranche – 67% - of food ingredients specialist Zhongbai Xingye. Purchase of the second tranche – and full acquisition – of the Beijing-based company is expected to be finalized by the end of 2024.
LyondellBasell has taken over 100% of PolyPacific Polymers (PPM), a compounder based at Port Klang, Malaysia. The Malaysian production facility, which has capacity to produce 25,000 t/y of reinforced and modified polyolefin compounds, will be rebranded as LyondellBasell. All employees will transfer.
An expert panel advising the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has concluded that Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine presents greater benefits than safety risks, especially in view of the rapid spread of the Delta variant – despite a number of cases of the nerve disease Guillain-Barré (GBS) syndrome.
German foundry chemicals company ASK Chemicals has agreed to buy the majority of the industrial resins business of SI Group, a US manufacturer of performance additives, process solutions, pharmaceuticals and chemical intermediates, for an undisclosed sum. The transaction does not include the businesses in the US and China.
Canadian methanol giant Methanex is to resume construction on its 1.8 million t/y Geismar 3 methanol project in Louisiana, USA, because of a positive industry outlook and stronger financial position. Work was halted in April 2020 because of the global economic uncertainty from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dow may revive an earlier expansion project that would add 600,000 t/y of LLDPE capacity on the US Gulf Coast, CEO Jim Fitterling said during a conference call with journalists last week to present second quarter financial results.
Nouryon will relocate its production of Expancel expandable microspheres from Suzhou to Ningbo in China, which will lead to an increase in output. The anticipated “seamless” relocation is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The company said the move will “further strengthen its leading global position in expandable microspheres”.
Sustainable technology company Johnson Matthey is participating in a five-year project with multinational energy giant BP and two UK universities to explore new catalyst technology to help the world achieve net zero.
The human medicines committee of the European Medicines Agency, CHMP, has begun a rolling review of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sanofi Pasteur, which following approval is planned to be marketed by drugmaker Sanofi and UK pharma Glaxo SmithKline.
US drugmaker Eli Lilly has acquired Protomer Technologies, strengthening its diabetes portfolio. The deal gives Lilly full control over the privately held US biotech, having gained a 14% stake in Protomer last November following an equity investment alongside the JDRF T1D Fund – a venture philanthropy fund accelerating treatments for type 1 diabetes (T1D).
As part of a new supply chain partnership, South Africa’s Biovac will produce Pfizer and BioNTech’s Comirnaty-branded Covid-19 vaccine at its Capetown site from the end of 2021, the companies announced this week.
New wide-sweeping restrictions on the use of glyphosate, active ingredient in herbicides such as the Monsanto-developed Roundup and the subject of thousands of lawsuits still dogging Bayer, will take hold in Germany at the end of July or beginning of August, the agriculture ministry said.
Dutch multinational terminal operator Vopak is linking up with Aegis in India to expand in the chemicals and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) storage and handling business.
Trinseo has agreed to buy Aristech Surfaces from Falcon Private Holdings for $445 million. Headquartered in Florence, Kentucky, USA, Aristech is a leading North American manufacturer of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) continuous cast and solid surface sheets serving wellness applications, such as hot tubs and spas, as well as architectural, transportation and industrial markets.
Catalent has kicked off the first phase of a two-phase $100 million expansion to add biologics drug substance production at the Anagni, Italy, plant it acquired from Bristol Myers Squibb in January 2020. This, the US-based CDMO said, will support the growing European market demand for biologics manufacture and supply.
Solvay has announced that the International Chamber of Commerce’s arbitration tribunal has found Edison liable for breaching environmental representations and warranties in the sale of the Spinetta Marengo and Bussi sul Tirino sites in Italy to the Belgian group in 2001.
