Business Concentrates MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
▸ DowDuPont clears Chinese regulators In another step toward its completion, the merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont has cleared antitrust review in China. Most of the concessions requested by China’s Ministry of Commerce were also the European Commission’s conditions for approval. To satisfy the EC, DuPont is selling a large part of its crop protection business, as well as agricultural R&D operations, to FMC. Dow is selling its ethylene acrylic acid copolymers business to South Korea’s SK. Specific to China, authorities want Dow and DuPont to make five-year commitments related to the distribution of herbicides and insecticides for rice crops. The companies expect to complete the merger in August.—ALEX TULLO
Robust deal-making ahead Business and economic conditions favor another year of big deal-making in the chemical industry, according to the consulting firm Deloitte. “In 2017, higher levels of cash on corporate balance sheets, low levels of innovation, and a low-growth macroeconomic outlook will likely boost” mergers and acquisitions in commodity chemicals, it reports. Companies will take advantage of cheap credit to pursue deals that increase revenue growth, rebalance portfolios, and decrease costs. Meanwhile, diversified firms will likely follow the lead of BASF and DuPont and focus attention on specialty chemicals. But fewer specialty businesses are for sale, and prices have gone up. Also this year, smaller agricultural chemical firms will bulk up by buying businesses cast off from the megamergers of Dow Chemical and DuPont and ChemChina and Syngenta. Deloitte sees a similar theme for industrial gases, as regulators are likely to require divestitures from the $65 billion merger of Praxair and Linde.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
NANOMATERIALS
▸ Japanese firms target cellulose nanofibers
INVESTMENT
▸ Styrenic polymers get investment Ineos Styrolution and Innova are both investing in styrenics. Styrolution is building an acrylonitrile styrene acrylate plant in Bayport, Texas. When completed in 2020, the plant will have the capacity to make 100,000 metric tons per year of the weather-resistant plastic. The new plant will free up equipment at Styrolution’s Altamira, Mexico, plant, allowing it to make 70,000 metric tons more acrylonitrile butadiene styrene per year. Separately, Innova is doubling styrene capacity at its plant in Triunfo, Brazil, to 420,000 metric tons per year. The project was enabled by new ethylene and benzene contracts with petrochemical maker Braskem.—ALEX TULLO
PETROCHEMICALS
▸ SABIC readies ethane carrier Saudi Basic Industries Corp. held a naming ceremony for the GasChem Beluga, a new ethane carrier that will transport shale-based ethane from Houston for use at its ethylene cracker in Wilton, England.
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | MAY 8, 2017
The GasChem Beluga docked near Wilton, England. SABIC recently completed a project at the site allowing it to store imported ethane. The company will take delivery of another ship, the GasChem Orca, in July. Each will have 36,000 m3 of ethane capacity.—ALEX TULLO
NUCLEIC ACIDS
▸ Sosei buys stake in RNA therapy firm Japan’s Sosei Group will spend $45 million to acquire a 25.6% ownership stake in MiNA Therapeutics and an option to potentially acquire all of the London-based firm. MiNA’s lead compound is MTL-CEBPA, a small activating RNA that is in the midst of Phase I/IIa clinical trials as an advanced liver cancer treatment. Sosei says MiNA will complement Heptares Therapeutics, a London-based developer of drugs targeting G protein-coupled receptors that Sosei acquired in 2015.—MICHAEL MCCOY
Japanese trading firm Marubeni and Chuetsu Pulp & Paper are joining to make and sell cellulose nanofibers. The firms claim their “nanoforest” fiber is five times as light and five times as strong as steel and could be used in building materials, electronic devices, and cosmetics. Marubeni is developing new applications for the fiber and will be responsible for sales. Chuetsu will produce the fiber and expects to start up a 100-metric-ton-peryear plant next month.—MARC REISCH
SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
▸ Merck, partner advance 3-D effects Merck KGaA and Swiss UV coatings firm Schmid Rhyner are partnering to commercialize Merck’s three-dimensional-effect technology in the package printing market. The technology, which relies on pearlescent
Surfaces appear 3-D with the Merck technology.
CREDIT: SABIC (SHIP); MERCK KGaA (3-D SURFACE)
AGRICULTURE
DRUG DEVELOPMENT
pigments produced by Merck, tricks the eye by making images and text on a flat surface appear 3-D. Merck says it has already introduced a similar process for plastics made via injection molding.—ALEX SCOTT
▸ Shire, Parion join for ophthalmic drug
BIOLOGICS
▸ Daiichi invests in antibody-drug combos Daiichi Sankyo will spend about $135 million to enhance its manufacturing capabilities in Japan for antibody-drug conjugates. ADCs link a cytotoxic molecule to an antibody that binds selectively to a target on cancer cells. The company says the investment, in three of its Japanese plants, will improve its ability to make ADCs for investigational and clinical use. Daiichi is developing six ADCs, including two in Phase I clinical trials.—MICHAEL MCCOY
MATERIALS
▸ BASF to beautify former bomb shelter
CREDIT: BASF
BASF will revamp a concrete former bomb shelter at its headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany, into a work space for about 15 employees. Updated with novel materials and a modern design, the 1,000-m2 building will also feature work space for project partners or start-up companies.
A computer-enhanced image of BASF’s revamped bomb shelter. Additionally, the building will be a center to demonstrate BASF’s Designfabrik materials consulting service and its Ultrasim plastics application simulation tool.—ALEX SCOTT
PERSONALIZED MEDICINE
▸ Stem cell specialist takes steps forward Magenta Therapeutics has advanced its stem cell transplantation efforts on three levels. It completed a $50 million series B financing round intended to fuel development of products in areas including patient preparation and stem cell harvesting. It in-licensed a Novartis product, MGTA-456, designed to expand the number of cord blood stem cells used in transplants. And it formed a partnership with Be The Match BioTherapies in which it will use Be The Match’s cell therapy delivery platform, clinical trial design, and industry relationships in research efforts.—RICK MULLIN
Shire has licensed worldwide rights to P-321, a small-molecule inhibitor of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) being developed by Parion Sciences. P-321 is in Phase II clinical trials for dry eye disease. Inhibiting ENaC is thought to block the absorption of tears and help keep the ocular surface hydrated, the partners say. Shire will make a $20 million license payment and pay $20 million more if a near-term milestone is reached. Parion could get up to $535 million if all targets are met.—MICHAEL MCCOY
DRUG DELIVERY
▸ AstraZeneca in pact for inhaled drugs AstraZeneca will pay $57.5 million plus potential milestone payments for access to Pieris Pharmaceuticals’ PRS-060, an engineered protein being developed for respiratory diseases. PRS-060 is what Pieris calls an anticalin, a protein that can mimic antibodies by binding to sites either on other proteins or on small molecules. Unlike an antibody, anticalins can be delivered by inhalation. PRS-060 targets interleukin-4 receptor α, which plays a role in asthma.—MICHAEL MCCOY
Business Roundup
plans to develop the semiconductors for use in solar cells.
▸ Huntsman Corp. has acquired IFS Chemicals, a privately owned formulator of polyurethane systems based on methylene diphenyl diisocyanate. IFS has close to 50 employees and operates from a 5,100-m2 factory in Roydon, England.
▸ Callery has named Harry Rathore as its CEO. Rathore founded the pharmaceutical chemical company Polyorganix and has worked for Lonza and Alcami. Callery was formerly BASF’s inorganic specialties business.
▸ Elevance Renewable Sciences, a biobased chemical firm, has named Karl Schoene as its new CEO; former CEO Tony Parnell will become executive chair. Schoene will guide the firm as it works to develop new products and increase sales from its joint venture biorefinery in Indonesia.
▸ Tokyo Chemical Industry has licensed rights to organic semiconductors invented by researchers at Kaunas University of Technology and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL). TCI
▸ Alcami will spend $5 million to expand filling and freeze-drying capabilities at its drug services facility in Charleston, S.C. The company says the project will create at least 30 new jobs.
▸ Amyris says it has successfully developed a fermentation route to an unnamed, “natural-like” sweetener that is low calorie, sustainably sourced, and less expensive than sugar. The company plans industrial production by 2018 and expects to
achieve sweetener sales of $100 million by 2020.
▸ GlaxoSmithKline will spend $139 million to expand its biopharmaceutical facility in Rockville, Md. The investment supports growing demand for Benlysta, a treatment for lupus. The site is also expected to produce a subcutaneous form of the drug, currently under FDA review. ▸ Takeda Pharmaceutical and Cleveland’s Harrington Discovery Institute have formed a rare-disease drug discovery partnership. The venture, the first with a major drug company for Harrington, will support Takeda’s programs in areas including oncology, gastroenterology, and central nervous system disorders.
MAY 8, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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