Business Concentrates BUSINESS
▸ Europe investigates ethylene market The European Commission says it carried out unannounced inspections on May 16 of European companies that purchase ethylene. The specialty chemical maker Clariant, for example, confirmed that it is under investigation. The EC says it is concerned that the companies might have violated antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices. Ethylene is a large-volume commodity used to produce polyethylene and many other petrochemicals.—MICHAEL MCCOY
OUTSOURCING
▸ Avantor opens life sciences center Avantor has opened a 2,500-m2 center in Bridgewater, N.J., intended to provide contract research services to pharmaceutical companies. The R&D center includes clean-room facilities, mass spectrometers, bioreactors, particle size analyzers, and more, Avantor says. The center will facilitate reAvantor’s new combinant protein innovation center engineering, prois intended to aid tein expression and drug companies. purification, and trace materials characterization, the firm adds.—MICHAEL MCCOY
BUSINESS
▸ Huntsman launches TiO2 maker Venator Huntsman Corp. has launched the initial public offering of 20% of Venator, its titanium dioxide and performance additives business. The IPO of 22.7 million shares is expected to raise nearly $500 million. Shares of the new firm, trading under the symbol VNTR, will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in August. The
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 31, 2017
AkzoNobel still under attack A package of measures introduced by AkzoNobel to diffuse tension with its largest shareholder, the hedge fund Elliott Advisors, has fallen short. Rather than back off, Elliott is pushing for its legal right to introduce a motion at AkzoNobel’s extraordinary general meeting on Sept. 8 so it can vote for the dismissal of the firm’s chair, Antony Burgmans. Measures introduced by AkzoNobel to improve relations with shareholders include forming a supervisory board committee for shareholder relations and promising more opportunities for investors to meet with senior management. But Elliott remains critical of the Dutch firm’s managers, and Burgmans’s role in particular, for resisting a takeover by U.S. paint rival PPG Industries earlier in the year. Elliott is also unhappy with AkzoNobel’s nomination of Thierry Vanlancker—the firm’s former head of chemicals—as its CEO, after the unexpected resignation of CEO Ton Büchner on July 18.—ALEX SCOTT
launch takes place as prices and demand for TiO2, a pigment widely used in paint, are on the rise after a long period of stagnation. Venator has annual sales of more than $2 billion and accounts for 11% of global TiO2 production.—MARC REISCH
PETROCHEMICALS
▸ Lyondell moves on big Texas project LyondellBasell Industries has green-lighted plans to build in Channelview, Texas, what it says will be the world’s biggest propylene oxide/tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) plant. Expected to cost $2.4 billion, the project is the largest capital investment in Lyondell’s history, the firm says. At a site near Pasadena, Texas, an ethers plant will convert TBA into the fuel oxygenates methyl tert-butyl ether and ethyl tert-butyl ether. Many U.S. states ban the oxygenates because of their potential to contaminate groundwater, but they are widely used in Latin America and Asia.—MICHAEL
sulfuric acid, and other chemicals. H.I.G acquired the business in 2011. Credit rating agency Moody’s says Cornerstone has a good track record and benefits from the recent start-up of a Dyno Nobel ammonia plant on its site. But Cornerstone “will be pressured to find new growth opportunities in the medium term,” Moody’s says.—MARC REISCH
SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
▸ Croda buys up surfactants spin-off
MCCOY
Specialty chemical firm Croda has acquired Enza Biotech, a spin-off from Sweden’s Lund University with a technology for making nonionic sugar-based surfactants from carbohydrates. Enza’s cofounders Maria Andersson and Stefan Ulvenlund and their team will transfer to Croda to commercialize the technology. Enza uses an enzymatic process to generate oligomeric alkylglycosides, which cause less irritation than nonionic surfactants when used in personal care products, Enza claims.—ALEX SCOTT
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
POLYMERS
▸ Cornerstone Chemical ▸ P&G recycling changes hands process advances Littlejohn & Co. has reached a deal to buy Cornerstone Chemical, the former basic chemicals business of Cytec Industries, from another private equity firm, H.I.G. Capital. Located in Waggaman, La., Cornerstone makes melamine, acrylonitrile,
Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble has developed a process that restores used polypropylene to like-new resin. The technology removes virtually all contaminants and colors from the cast-off plastic, creating a recycled polymer that is nearly
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REGULATION
