BUSINESS
CONCENTRATES Novartis emerges as possible white knight for Aventis A potential white knight has appeared in Sanof i-Synthelabo's
bitterly contested $60 billion attempt to acquire Aventis. Swiss drug giant Novartis weighed in on the Gallic squabble, confirming in a press release that it is "exploring the feasibility of a combination with Aventis." A deal between Novartis and Aventis would create a drugfirmsecond in size only to Pfizer. A Sanofi-Aventis combination, on the other hand, would create the number three drug firm behind GlaxoSmithKline. Novartis says it has notified AMF, the French stock market authority, that it is investigating the option ofacquiring Aventis, but that it is currently undecided on whether to pursue a transaction. Sanofi declined to comment. However, Sanofi CEOJean-Francois Dehecq reportedly acknowledged in a teleconference that reaction in thefinancialmarkets to the Novartis development may require Sanofi to raise its bid.
BASF continues restructuring
per-year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at the Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone in eastern China. The company has applied for Chinese approval for the wholly owned project, which will use Mitsurs own technology Mitsui does not say when it expects the plant to gp onstreamor howmuchit will invest. With its partner, Siam Cement, Mitsui is nowbuilding a PTAplant inThailand with capacity of 500,000 metric tons. It is expected to open next year, joining two existingplants at the Thai site with combined capacity of 900,000 metric tons.
BASF says it is nearing completion of the first phase of its $250 million North American restxucturingprogram.The first phase, announced in August, included 1,000 layoffs in support functions such as information technology, human resources, and finance. Starting this year, BASF says, these measures will save it $100 million annually. The company says phase two, meant to save $150 million annually by 2006, is under way, with 400 jobs already shed. The company expects that 350 more positions will be eliminated in the program. Planned projects in the restructuring include closing an expandable polystyrene Dow Chemical's single-siteplant in South Brunswick, N.J., catalyst-basedVersifyethyleneand transferring production to propylene copolymers, unveiled Altamira, Mexico. The compa- last month, are another result of ny is also leaving its North afive-yearcatalyst development American headquarters in collaboration between Dowand Mount Olive, NJ., and moving the high-throughput-screening to a smaller space in Florham specialist Symyx Technologies. Park, N.J. The new polymer family—offering good optical properties, sealing performance, elasticity and softness—is intended for packaging and consumer applications. Dow says the elasMitsui Chemicals is planning tomers were developed in only to build a 600,000-metric-ton- two years; the firm will start
Symyx and Dow advance pact
Mitsui plans China PTA plant
HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
making them on a commercial scale later this year. The partners announced the first fruit of their collaboration, a new amide-ether-based hafnium catalyst for polyolefins, ayear ago.
Ciba expands in services Ciba Specialty Chemicals is
expanding its Ciba Expert Services unit by acquiring Pira International, a U.K.-based supplier of services to the packaging, paper, printing, and publishing industries. Pira, which employs 140 people, provides
SERVICE Ciba acquisition will expand consulting to industries such as packaging.
strategic and technical consulting and operates publishing and conference businesses. Ciba provides similar services in areas such as color, testing, safety, and education.
Bayer debuts Lanxess Bayer, which last week posted a net loss of $1.7 billion on sales of $34.9 billion for 2003, has unveiled Lanxess as the new name for its chemicals business. Lanxess —which combines the French word "lancer," meaning to set in motion, and the English word "success"—begins life as home for most ofBayer's industrial chemicals and ap-
proximately one-third of its polymers. Lanxess will have 20,000 employees and expects sales of roughly $7.3 billion this year. It is to be listed on international stock markets by early 2005 at the latest. Bayer will decide between an initial public offering and a spin-off to existing stockholders in the second half of this year, Chairman ^ m e r i n n i n g says.
ISP expands elastomers ISP is expanding by 50% the
hot polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) capacity at its Port Neches, Texas, facility, which it acquired from bankrupt Ameripol Synpol last year. The company says the expansion of the product line, used in specialty applications such as adhesives and sealants, underscores its emphasis on specialty SBR rather than commodity SBR products such as tire rubber. The company says the move was also prompted by Dow Chemical's decision to close a hot emulsion facility in Pernis, the Netherlands.
Enzon chief to head Bayer health unit Arthur J. Higgins will resign
as CEO of Enzon Pharmaceuticals, effective May 10, to become CEO of Bayer Healthcare. The 48-year-old Higgins will replace Rolf Classon, 58, who is retiring. Higgins, who holds a B.S. in biochemistry from Strathclyde University in Scotland, started his career in the UK. at Bristol-Myers. He subsequently worked at Sandoz and Fisons. Higgins moved to the U.S. to join Abbott Laboratories, where he was president of Abbott's pharmaceutical division from 1998 to 2001. C&EN
/ MARCH
22, 2004
11
BUSINESS
CONCENTRATES Since 2001, he has been chair man and CEO of Enzon.
Fisher boosts life sciences with new deal Research equipment suppli er Fisher Scientific Interna tional has agreed to acquire Apogent Technologies in a stock swap that values Apogent at $37 billion. In its last fiscal year, Apogent had $1.1 billion in sales of consumables and other products for clinical di agnostics and life sciences re search. The purchase will be the latest in a string of deals for Fisher, which has been trying to increase its presence in the life sciences end ofthe research market. In February, it an nounced the acquisitions of Oxoid and Dharmacon, two biochemical suppliers, and last year it purchased bioresearch consumables maker Perbio.
Ecolab acquires biocide maker Ecolab has agreed to acquire
biocide maker Alcide Corp. in a stock swap valued at about $57 million. Alcide, which had $22 million in sales in its last fiscal year, markets biocidal products to the animal health, medical, and food-processing industries. Its fastest growing product is Sanova, a chlorous acid-based disinfectant used in poultry and beef processing. Ecolab CEO Allan L. Schuman says the purchase should ac celerate the commercialization ofAlcide's technology
Great Lakes, OxyChem in pact Great Lakes Chemical and
Occidental Chemical's Laurel Industries unit will combine 12
C & E N / MARCH 2 2 , 2004
their antimony businesses in to a 50-50 joint venture, man aged by Great Lakes, for anti mony-basedflameretardants, synergists, and catalysts. Man ufacturing will be consolidat ed at Great Lakes' facility in Reynosa, Mexico. Laurel will close its LaPorte, Texas, plant, which employs 14, by the end of 2004. Great Lakes CEO Mark Ε Bulriss says the com bination will have the size and resources to compete against Chinese imports.
0M delays results... 0M Group anticipates re statement ofitsfinancialresults from 1999 through 2003 - t h e result ofan independent inves tigation of inventories con ducted by the audit committee of its board of directors. Earli er thisyear, OM delayed the re quired Securities & Exchange Commissionfilingof its 10-K statement of 2003 results be cause it was in the process of responding to SEC staff com ments relating to previous fil ings. Thus, with the latest de velopment, OM's 2003 results still have not been published. The company says it expects that its own investigation will result in adjustments that neg atively affect earnings in 1999, 2000, and 2001 and positively affect them in 2002 and 2003.
counting periods in which they occurred. The restatement shows Bristol-Myers had fburthquarter 2003 net earnings of $506 million on sales of $5.67 billion, compared with previ ously reported net earnings of $429 million on sales of $5.57 billion. For the full year, the company had net earnings of $3.11 billion on sales of $20.9 billion, compared with previ ously reported earnings of $2.95 billion and $20.7 billion in sales.
Index, 1997 = 100 110 108 106 104 102
Output rises in February U.S. chemical production in creased in February for the first time since November 2003, according to the latest season ally adjusted datafromthe Fed-
FMAMJ JASONDJ ι 2003 '
F
and it was up 1.2% from February a year ago. The government's estimate of seasonally adjusted chemical capacity utilization climbed to 752% from 74.4% in the previous month and 73.3% in February 2003.
BUSINESS ROUNDUP • InnoCentive has struck a
deal with India's National Chemical Laboratory enabling NCL researchers to work on sci entific challenges posted on the InnoCentive website. Inno Centive already had an arrange ment with the Council of Sci entific & Industrial Research, NCEs parent organization.
process that the partners say reduces production costs by 50%. • Air Liquides proposed acquisition ofMesser Griesheim's industrial gas business in Germany the U.K., and the U.S. has been approved by the European Commission. The deal still requires antitrust clearance in the US.
• Petrobras CEO José Eduar-
do Dutra reiterated his desire to buy petrochemical assets in Brazil, according to a published report. Possible targets are said to include Braskem, the country's largest private chemical company; ethylene producer Copesul; and Ipiranga PetroBristol-Myers Squibb has re quimica, which Petrobras was stated 2003 results, plus its fi rumored to be in discussions nancial reports for 2001 and with last year. 2002. The change comes be cause the company in its fourth- • Rutgers Chemicals and Niquarter and full-year 2003 earn nonJyoryu Kogyo have opened ings statement, recorded various a joint-venture plant in Castropcharges and adjustments to cor Rauxel, Germany, for the prorect accounting errors in prior duction of anthracene and carperiods. The restatement shifts bazole, rawmaterials for pigment those adjustments to the ac production. The plant uses a new
... Bristol-Myers restates them
eral Reserve Board. Output of chemicals rose 1.2% fromJanuary and 37% from February 2003 to an index of 109.2 (1997 = 100). Basic chemical production increased just 0.4% from theJanuary index to 95.2,
• Novo Nordisk has licensed
North American rights to ZymoGenetics' patents covering interleukin-20, a new member of the cytokine family that is being developed as a psoriasis treatment. Novo will pay ZymoGenetics a $4 million license fee, along with milestone and royalty payments. • Degussa is selling its $6
million-per-year thiourea dioxide business to Wego Chemical & Mineral Corp. Degussa will end production in Weissenstein, Austria, by midyear; Wego will transfer production to its site in Qingzhou, China. HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
