UK technology company Johnson Matthey (JM) has won a contract to supply multiple licenses to China’s Ningxia Baofeng Energy to develop five of the largest single-train methanol plants in the world. The contract is the fourth methanol project that Baofeng has awarded to JM.
Germany’s Wacker Chemie is selling its remaining 30.8% stake in semiconductor specialist Siltronic to GlobalWafers. As part of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, the Taiwan-based company will offer Siltronic shareholders a price of €125 per share, with a minimum acceptance threshold of 65% of outstanding shares.
French specialty chemicals producer Arkema has acquired Colorado Photopolymer Solutions. Based in Boulder, Colorado. The US company develops and markets a range of value-added, formulated photopolymer resin solutions for energy curing technology, especially for 3D printing markets.
Danish paints group Flügger has entered into an agreement to take a 70% stake in Eskaro Group, a Swedish-headquartered paint and varnish producer with operations in several eastern European countries.
French technology company Axens, its parent company IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN), and US food and agricultural giant Cargill are joining forces to further develop and scale bio-based acrylic acid.
The board of directors at Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant has tapped Conrad Keijzer to be the company’s new CEO. The 52-year-old Dutch citizen will take up the job on Jan. 1, 2021, and interim CEO Harriolf Kottmann will again focus on his duties as chairman of the board.
Umicore‘s business unit Precious Metals Chemistry is further expanding its cross-coupling catalyst portfolio by acquiring Ruhr University Bochum’s YPhos ligands and catalysts technology.
Logistics service provider H.Essers, currently active in 19 countries from 77 locations, is in advanced negotiations for the acquisition of the logistics and transport activities of the Dutch Meeus Group.
The US affiliate of global energy and commodities trader Vitol Group has agreed to pay $135 million to resolve the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) investigations into corruption, also resolving a parallel investigation in Brazil in relation to the country’s “car wash” money laundering scandal.
US pharma giant Merck has divested its direct holding in Moderna just as the US biotech is on the cusp of receiving an emergency use authorization (EUA) for its mRNA-based Covid-19. It said it expects to “record a small fourth-quarter gain.”
Bayer has taken another a step toward embracing cell therapy, this week signing a worldwide license agreement with Atara Biotherapeutics for next-generation, mesothelin-directed CAR-T cell therapies for treatment of solid tumors.
Swiss CDMO Lonza will build two new suites for the commercialization of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) at its Visp site following the signing of a long-term collaboration with a global biopharma company.
Huntsman has agreed to buy Gabriel Performance Products, a North American manufacturer of specialty additives and epoxy curing agents for the coatings, adhesives, sealants and composite end-markets, from funds owned by Audax Private Equity.
Through debottlenecking, German specialty chemicals producer Lanxess has added more than 5,000 t/y of capacity for its black synthetic iron oxide pigments at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site, which it claims as the world’s largest plant for manufacturing synthetic iron oxide pigments. The company said it is responding to increased demand from the construction industry, especially for products to color concrete.
France has a long, grand history in chemistry.
ACG has appointed Marcus Michel as the new CEO of ACG Engineering, taking over from Richard Stedman, who will remain with the company as a special advisor over the next few months to support a seamless transition.
Within the last 24 months, a whole range of companies announced a series of massive investments in their sites in Flanders, the Northern region of Belgium.
In yet another legal repercussion of Bayer’s 2018 acquisition of Monsanto, a US federal judge has rejected the German group’s proposed $648 million settlement of class-action litigation over historic contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
In response to global trends, Poland’s PKN Orlen has announced it will spend about 140 billion zloty – or $38 billion – over the next 10 years to center the business around petrochemicals and renewable energy.
Despite “encouraging” signs of a recovery of chemical production in May from the coronavirus-related “historic slump” in March and April, progress is now slowing, the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) said in its report on the first nine months of 2020.
We are in an increasingly volatile global climate, from health and economic crises, to trade wars on multiple fronts, to political unease, to name just a few.
Affix Labs over the past 5 years has specialized in binding technologies and commercialized first products in 2019.
The global market for oligonucleotide therapeutics is expanding rapidly. Bachem, an innovation-driven company based in Bubendorf, Switzerland, has entered this competitive environment in 2019.
WeylChem’s Custom Manufacturing division has a strong record of accomplishments operating in markets such as Pharma, Agro and Pigments.
The goal of a CO2-neutral chemical industry in 2050 is comparable with a 30 year marathon – but at sprint speed. So we have to find the best route to this common goal. This is the conclusion of a conference organized by the Association for Chemistry and Economics (VCW), a sub-sector of the German Chemical Society (GDCh).
Univar Solutions China, a wholly owned subsidiary of US chemical distributor Univar Solutions, has agreed to acquire Zhuhai Techi Chem Silicone Industry Corp. for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to close in mid-December.
CDMO Sterling Pharma Solutions has formed a strategic partnership with ADC Biotechnology, a UK-based specialist in the discovery, development and manufacture of antibody drug conjugates.
On Dec. 2, the UK was jubilant about being the first country to issue an Emergency Use Application (EUA) for the Western world’s first coronavirus vaccine, developed by the American-German team of Pfizer and BioNTech. A day later the country was being looked upon as somewhat of a pariah by authorities in the US and EU that saw the move as overly hasty.
US paints group PPG Industries has agreed to buy Ennis-Flint, a manufacturer of specialized coatings for traffic safety solutions, for about $1.15 billion from private equity owner Olympus Partners. The deal is expected to close within the next few months, subject to the usual conditions.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and French energy group Total have entered into a strategic framework agreement to explore joint research, development and deployment opportunities in reducing CO2 emissions and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).
Sweden‘s Perstorp has developed a new route to produce renewable methanol from carbon waste streams and is in search of funding to try out the new production concept in a plant at Stenungsund. If Project AIR goes ahead, the company said it would be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 500,000 t/y, making progress toward becoming carbon neutral.
US engineering group Black & Veatch and Bermuda-based gas shipper Golar LNG are expanding their long-standing collaboration to focus on floating ammonia production, carbon capture, green liquefied natural gas (LNG) and green hydrogen.
South African chemical producer Sasol has completed the sale of a 50% stake in its US base chemicals business at Lake Charles, Louisiana, to LyondellBasell following shareholder approval. The Johannesburg group’s shares initially rose 3% on the news.
In a move that was not on the world’s radar, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has become the first Western regulatory body to issue an Emergency Use Authorization EUA) for a Covid-19 vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech’s BNT162b2 candidate.
US chemistry remains in demand around the world despite ongoing trade tensions and Covid-19. In 2019, the US chemical industry was one of the world’s largest exporters, at $136 billion. The industry has a large and growing trade surplus, reaching more than $35 billion in 2019.
