German distribution group Oqema has acquired Alpkem, a Slovenia-based firm with its main offices in Kranj. Oqema said the deal strengthens its inorganic product line and circular economy business, as well as its infrastructure in southeast Europe. Financial terms were not disclosed.
French pharma Ipsen has entered into exclusive negotiations for the sale of its global consumer healthcare business to compatriot firm Mayoly Spindler. The move, said Ipsen, is a major step forward in its strategy to sharpen its focus on specialty care.
US paints and coatings group PPG has entered into an agreement to buy the powder coatings business of Italian company Arsonsisi, boosting its offering in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Arsonsisi’s powder coating sales reached about $15 million last year.
Clariant has signed definitive agreements to divest its 50% stake in the joint venture that owns Scientific Design Company to its long-term joint venture partner, SABIC. The Saudi group will execute a call option raised in 2015 to acquire the stake in the business bought by Germany’s Süd-Chemie in 2003 prior to its acquisition by Clariant.
Hexion Holdings has completed the sale of its epoxy-based coatings and composites portfolio to Westlake Chemical for $1.2 billion. The deal comprises the epoxy specialty resins and base epoxy resins and intermediates product lines. Prior to the sale, Hexion had announced it would split into two independent companies.
US adhesives maker H.B. Fuller has purchased Apollo, the UK’s largest independent manufacturer of liquid adhesives, coatings and primers for the commercial roofing, industrial and construction markets.
With Germany’s foreign trade clearance still missing on the deal’s agreed Jan. 31 closing date, Munich-based Wacker Chemie declared its plans to sell its remaining 30.8% stake in silicon wafers manufacturer Siltronic to Taiwan’s GlobalWafers officially dead. For now, at least.
Ineos Styrolution has sold its StyLight thermoplastic composite materials business to German family-owned firm Ensinger for an undisclosed sum.
SABIC Agri-Nutrients has agreed to acquire a 49% stake in ETG Inputs Holdco for an enterprise value of $320 million. ETG Inputs Holdco blends and distributes fertilizers, seeds and crop protection products across Africa from its more than 350 distribution centers.
Aceto, a US-based manufacturer of specialty materials for life sciences and advanced technology end markets, has consolidated and integrated six recent acquisitions with an eye to developing its hybrid manufacturing/distribution model to supply high-growth end markets.
Dutch-based global distributor Barentz International, specializing in life science ingredients, has acquired unspecified assets of Chemcel, a distributor of specialty ingredients for the Mexican pharmaceutical and nutrition markets. Financial terms were not disclosed.
US private equity firm OpenGate Capital has bought two US chemical distributors in the space of a week. The first purchase on Jan. 11 was Chemsolv, a regional distributor of commodity and specialty chemicals headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia. The business was acquired from the Austin family, who continue to hold a stake.
Rumors that German pharmaceutical producer CordenPharma is up for sale have resurfaced following fresh reports that the company’s owner, International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG), plans to formally solicit bids for the business at the end of January.
GlobalWafers’ planned takeover of Wacker Chemie’s remaining 30.8% stake in silicon wafers manufacturer Siltronic is looking somewhat shaky as the German economics ministry – following a year’s review of the plans – apparently remains unconvinced that the $5.3 billion deal is in the national interest.
German biotechnology company Enzymaster has completed the acquisition of Fujian Sanming Minhe Pharmaceutical Technology Co. (Sanming Minhe). Located in China’s Fujian province, 40% of Sanming Minhe’s capacity will be dedicated to manufacturing products using Enzymaster’s processing technology, increasing Enzymaster’s overall production capacity by 50%.
Swedish speciality chemicals producer Perstorp has acquired GEO Specialty Chemicals’ Di-Methylolpropionic Acid (DMPA) business, a move the company said underscores its commitment to providing sustainable specialty solutions to the resins and coatings segment as well as enhancing its strategic presence in polyurethane and alkyds dispersions for waterborne coatings.
GlaxoSmithKline said it has received and rejected three bids from consumer products giant Unilever to acquire its consumer drugs arm. The latest offer, worth £50 billion (£41.7 billion in cash and £8.3 billion in Unilever shares), fundamentally undervalues" the business,” the UK pharma said.
The backers of Hexion Holdings have agreed to sell the company to private equity investor American Securities for $30 per share in cash. The transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2022, following the closing of the sale of its Epoxy business to Westlake Chemical. That deal is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.
US-based Ascensus Specialties has bought Wychem, a UK-based manufacturer of fine chemicals for pharmaceutical and specialty applications. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The buyer said it will continue to support Wychem’s manufacturing facility and offices in the UK.
Novartis and market watchers alike have been dropping repeated hits that a sale of the Swiss drugs giant’s Sandoz-branded generic drugs arm may be closer than has been hinted up to now. In an interview with German weekly news magazine Wirtschaftswoche last week, CEO Vas Narasimhan said, however, that beyond several requests for information no concrete offers are currently on the table.
Univar Solutions has acquired Brazil’s Sweetmix Distribuidora de Materias Primas Industrais for an undisclosed sum. Based in Sao Paulo, Sweetmix offers a range of food mixtures, sweeteners and other ingredients, as well as specialty additives for coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers (CASE), rubbers and plastics.
IMCD China, part of Netherlands-headquartered globally active specialty chemicals distributor IMCD, has agreed to acquire all of Chinese personal care company Syntec to bolster its position in the personal care and cosmetics sector. Closing of the transaction, for which financial terms were not revealed, is planned to take place within the next five weeks.
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess Greiner’s proposed acquisition of Recticel over concerns that the combined entity would reduce competition in the technical foams market. The polyester- or polyether-based flexible foams are used in a wide variety of applications in diverse industries, including the automotive, construction, household and clothing industries.
French pharma Sanofi is investing $60 million in Gyroscope Therapeutics, a UK-based clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on eye diseases. Sanofi will initially invest $40 million, with the remaining funds contingent on a future qualifying investment round and the satisfaction of certain closing conditions.
Usalco, a portfolio company of investment firm H.I.G. Capital, has completed a merger with G2O Technologies, owned by private equity group Arsenal Capital Partners. The merger creates one of North America’s leading water treatment chemical companies with 27 sites across the Americas.
Sweden’s Biotage, a provider of systems and products for drug discovery and development, analytical testing and water and environmental testing, has acquired the UK’s ATDBio for about £45 million on a debt-free and cash-free basis.
US chemical producer Milliken has completed the acquisition of compatriot Encapsys from the Cypress Performance Group (CPG), a holding company formed by Sherman Capital Holdings in the merger of Encapsys with IPS Corporation.
US-based Charles River Laboratories International on Oct. 12 completed the divestment of its gene therapy CDMO site in Sweden and its research models and services operations in Japan. The site in Matfors, Sweden, was sold to an unnamed private investor group for about $52 million cash, with potential contingent payments of up to an additional $25 million, subject to certain adjustments.
Virtual specialty materials manufacturer Aceto has acquired A&C Bio Buffer, a GMP manufacturer of custom buffer and chemical blend products used to produce biopharmaceuticals. Financial terms were not disclosed.
US drugs giant Merck & Co. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire publicly traded US biotech Acceleron Pharma for $180 per share, yielding a total equity value of roughly $11.5 billion. Not only because of the size of the transaction, the takeover plans are being closely watched. An activist investor or anti-trust authority could potentially upset the deal, reports suggest.
Specialty polymers and bio-based products manufacturer Kraton has agreed to be acquired by Korean petrochemicals and engineering group DL Chemical, part of DL Holdings, formerly known as Daelim Industrial. The all-cash transaction foresees DL Chemical paying $2.5 billion to take full control of the company based at Houston, Texas, in the US.
Sibur and TAIF have finalized the terms of their petrochemical merger. The move follows an announcement on Apr. 23 that the firms had initiated steps to create a combined company that will be Russia’s largest petrochemical producer and one of the top five global polyolefin and rubber producers.
US investment group Apollo Global Management has bid for titanium dioxide producer Tronox, according to a report by Reuters. The news comes just days after Apollo entered into exclusive negotiations to buy French PVC maker Kem One.
Sanofi has completed the $3.2 billion acquisition of US biotech Translate Bio after the tender offer for all shares expired as scheduled at midnight US Eastern Daylight Time on Sept. 4. The minimum tender condition and all of the other conditions to the offer were satisfied, the French drugmaker said.
German chemicals distributor Oqema has acquired Ireland’s Casoria for an undisclosed sum, expanding both its network in the country and its product portfolio. Based in Cavan, Casoria distributes a range of chemicals and metals to the Irish market.
