Business Concentrates DRUG DEVELOPMENT
▸ Quaker will buy rival Houghton In a deal that will create a powerhouse in metalworking fluids and other formulated products, Quaker Chemical is buying fellow Pennsylvania-based firm Houghton International from India’s Hinduja Group for cash, stock, and debt worth $1.4 billion. Houghton had earnings of $120 million last year on sales of $767 million. Quaker had $107 million in earnings on sales of $747 million. Both companies have businesses in metal-forming fluids, corrosion protection fluids, and lubricants for foodand beverage-can processing. Quaker sees opportunities to sell its products in markets where Houghton is active, such as offshore control hydraulics. Similarly, Quaker may open up markets for Houghton in specialty greases and biobased lubricants. Hinduja bought Houghton in 2012 for $1 billion.—ALEX TULLO
NANOMATERIALS
▸ BASF, Landa join for new pigments
Japanese firms reach out Continuing its search outside Japan for promising assets, Astellas Pharma has agreed to acquire Ogeda, a Belgian firm developing small-molecule drugs targeting G protein-coupled receptors. Astellas will pay about $535 million plus $320 million if Ogeda hits certain milestones. Ogeda’s lead candidate, fezolinetant, is a selective NK3 receptor antagonist being developed to treat menopausal hot flashes. Ogeda announced favorable Phase IIa clinical trial results in January. Last fall, Astellas paid $470 million to acquire the German oncology drug discovery firm Ganymed Pharmaceuticals. Astellas’s main Japanese rival, Takeda Pharmaceutical, has likewise been active outside its home country. In January, Takeda said it would spend $5.2 billion to acquire Cambridge, Mass.-based Ariad Pharmaceuticals, which markets the blood cancer treatment Iclusig. Late last month, Takeda completed a postdeal consolidation program. Of the roughly 300 legacy Ariad employees, only 120 will get jobs with Takeda. In addition, 50 employees could get jobs at PRA Health Sciences, a contract research firm that last year took over much of Takeda’s drug development and postapproval R&D.—MICHAEL MCCOY
organosilicons, metal-organic compounds, and silicones. Last year, New Mountain combined two of its chemical holdings: the fine chemicals maker Avantor and the specialty silicones firm NuSil. However, New Mountain Managing Director Andre V. Moura says Gelest will be kept separate. “The intention with Gelest is for it to be a new platform to build in its own right,” he says.—ALEX TULLO
offered to buy AkzoNobel for $26.3 billion, up from a March 2 bid of $22.0 billion. Despite getting the cold shoulder twice, PPG maintains that combining the two firms “has a strong strategic rationale and presents a highly compelling and unique opportunity.” AkzoNobel says it continues to be undervalued by PPG.—ALEX SCOTT
ENERGY STORAGE
▸ England to get acetylated wood
BASF and Israel’s Landa Labs have formed a partnership to bring Landa’s nanopigment technology to the automotive coatings industry. Landa developed the technology for the BASF says Landa’s printing industry. technology will help Now, BASF seeks to pigments disperse bring the process in coatings more to auto coatings, quickly. where it says smaller pigment particles will disperse easily and create paints with higher intensity.—MICHAEL MCCOY
Asahi Kasei will increase its lithium-ion battery separator capacity by about onethird to 860 million m2 per year. The company, already the world’s largest producer of the materials, will add 200 million m2 of capacity at its plant in Moriyama, Japan. Separators are a layer of film placed between a battery cathode and anode to prevent contact between the electrodes while allowing lithium ions to circulate between them.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
INVESTMENT
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
▸ New Mountain buys stake in Gelest
▸ PPG prods AkzoNobel
The private equity firm New Mountain Capital has purchased a majority stake in Gelest, a Morrisville, Pa.-based maker of
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▸ Asahi Kasei to boost battery separators
PPG Industries just won’t take no for an answer. The U.S. paint firm is pleading with acquisition target AkzoNobel to at least meet and talk after AkzoNobel CEO Ton Büchner posted a rejection video. In late March, PPG
CONSUMER PRODUCTS
BP, Accsys Technologies, and fiberboard maker Medite are forming Tricoya Ventures, which will build a $72 million acetylated wood-chip plant near BP’s Hull, England, facility. BP will supply the plant with acetic anhydride needed for the wood acetylation process, which was developed by Accsys. Tricoya acetylated wood chips will be used to make fiberboard and particleboard panels for construction. Acetylated wood is dimensionally stable and resistant to moisture. Accsys expects to complete a 50% expansion of an acetylated lumber plant in the Netherlands by the end of this year.—ALEX TULLO
FOOD INGREDIENTS
▸ Evolva, Cargill advance stevia route … Evolva and Cargill say their fermentation route for making stevia is on track for a 2018
CREDIT: BASF
SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
launch. The sweetener is normally obtained from the stevia plant, but the key plant-derived molecules are pricey. Evolva developed a modified microbe that can produce the desired molecules, rebaudioside M and D, from sugar. It has worked with Cargill to scale up production of the ingredients at a Cargill fermentation plant in Blair, Neb. In addition, Evolva will build a bioprocessing facility on adjacent land where it will make the grapefruit flavor nootkatone and the dietary supplement resveratrol.—MELODY
BOMGARDNER
FOOD INGREDIENTS
▸ … As Evonik teams up for isomalt Evonik Industries has spent several million dollars to build a demonstration plant in Ratchaburi, Thailand, for the sugar substitute isomalt. The German firm teamed up with
Isomalt is often found in sugar-free hard candies. Rajburi Sugar, one of Thailand’s main sugar producers, for the project. The plant showcases an Evonik hydrogenation catalyst that improves the efficiency of the process, according to the firm. Type 2 diabetes, often associated with sug-
ar consumption, now affects about 10% of Asians, Evonik notes.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS
TREMBLAY
RARE DISEASE
▸ Sucampo buys start-up Vtesse Sucampo Pharmaceuticals will pay $200 million in stock and cash to acquire Vtesse, a privately held firm focused on rare diseases. Launched in January 2015, Vtesse was the first spin-off from the Pfizer-backed orphan drug accelerator Cydan Development. Vtesse’s lead product is VTS-270, a mixture of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrins in Phase II/III trials for the ultrarare genetic disorder Niemann-Pick disease type C1 (NPC). After the acquisition closes, Vtesse’s former owners intend to put a portion of proceeds, to be matched by Sucampo, into a new NPC-related research foundation.—ANN THAYER
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
▸ Ampac beefs up analytical services Ampac Fine Chemicals has expanded its analytical chemistry business, Ampac Analytical, adding 1,200 m2 of laboratory space at a new facility near El Dorado Hills, Calif. The company brought in X-ray powder diffraction, particle-size distribution, and
CREDIT: EVONIK (CANDY); AMPAC FINE CHEMICALS (LAB)
Business Roundup ▸ Ineos will pay BP $250 million for the pipeline connecting its refinery and petrochemical complex in Grangemouth, Scotland, to oil and gas fields under the North Sea. About 300 BP staffers operating the pipeline will transfer to Ineos. ▸ Solvay has agreed to sell its polyolefin cross-linkable compounds business in Italy to the family-owned firm Finproject. The business, which mainly serves the plastic cable and pipe industries, generated sales of $87 million in 2016.
▸ Lanxess plans to increase its capacity for producing red and black iron oxide pigments in Krefeld-Uerdingen, Germany, by almost 10% to 300,000 metric tons per year by 2019. The firm will also boost capacity for yellow pigments by 2,000 metric tons per year in Porto Feliz, Brazil. ▸ Novozymes and Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health are joining to develop and commercialize probiotics as health-promoting alternatives to antibiotics for poultry hatcheries. As part of the
Ampac scientist Marzena Noren at the firm’s new facility.
dissolution testing capabilities along with 10 liquid chromatography units. It also expanded stability chamber capacity for testing drug actives and finished drug products. The expansion quadruples the division’s capacity, Ampac says.—RICK MULLIN
EMPLOYMENT
▸ Troubled biotechs will cut jobs Acorda Therapeutics will reduce its staff by 20%, or about 120 jobs, after a decision by a U.S. district court to invalidate patents related to one of its main products, the multiple sclerosis treatment Ampyra. Acorda says it will focus on its two late-stage developmental drugs for Parkinson’s disease, CVT-301 and tozadenant. Meanwhile, Aviragen Therapeutics will reduce its staff by 25%, or about six employees, after clinical trial setbacks for two drugs. Aviragen says it will explore a sale or merger of the company.—MICHAEL MCCOY
agreement, Boehringer will market and distribute Novozymes’s FloraMax probiotic.
syndrome, an orphan drug indication.
▸ Solvay has won a patent infringement lawsuit in China against the Yantai-based firm Sunshow Specialty Chemical. The suit involved an ultraviolet stabilizer for thermoplastic olefins produced by Solvay’s Cytec Industries subsidiary.
▸ Azitra, a start-up that aims to harness the microbiome on the skin, has completed $2.9 million series A fundraising, bringing its total funding to $3.8 million. Azitra’s lead product is a strain of a skin bacterium that secretes therapeutic proteins into the skin.
▸ Laurus Synthesis will provide chemistry development and manufacturing services for EpyGenix Therapeutics’ EPX-100, an epilepsy drug candidate. EPX-100 is scheduled to begin clinical trials to treat adolescents with Dravet
▸ Takeda Pharmaceutical and Finch Therapeutics will jointly develop FIN-524, a Finch-invented cultured bacteria for gastrointestinal diseases. Takeda will pay Finch $10 million up front plus potential milestone payments.
APRIL 10, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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