On January 8, Sulzer Ltd. (Winterthur, Switzerland; www.sulzer.com) agreed to acquire the business of InterWeld Inc. Ltd. (Belfast, Northern Ireland), a specialized weld overlay company, offering corrosion and erosion solutions to the power industry, particularly power generation, the oil-and-gas and…
The S&P index for chemical companies edged higher, by 0.2%, in December, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). The gain in chemical stocks came despite a decline in…
Dr. Ulrich Küsthardt has been named the new chief innovation officer at Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com), effective the beginning of 2015. Küsthardt, who succeeds Dr. Peter Nagler, plans to continue strengthening the company’s innovation capacity, continuing his predecessor’s…
Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. (IVL; Bangkok, Thailand; www.indorama.net) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Indorama Netherlands B.V. has signed a share-purchase agreement to acquire a 100% equity stake of Polyplex Resins San. ve Tic. A.S, Turkey (Polyplex Turkey) from…
Praj Industries (Pune, India; www.praj.net) has signed a contract with Kakira Sugars, a leading sugar and power producer in Uganda, for a large ethanol plant. The plant, to be located in Uganda, will produce fuel ethanol, as well as premium-grade…
Mitsubishi Rayon Co. (Tokyo, Japan; www.mrc.co.jp) and Mitsubishi Plastics Inc. have agreed to integrate the Pitch-based Carbon Fiber Business of Mitsubishi Plastics and the Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based Carbon Fiber Business of Mitsubishi Rayon with the purpose of enhancing the Carbon…
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi-global.com) and Siemens AG (Munich, Germany; www.siemens.com) today announced the closing of their joint venture (JV) in the field of metallurgical industry. The new company is named Primetals Technologies, Ltd. and headquartered in…
Mexichem S.A.B. de C.V. (Tlalnepantla, Mexico; www.mexichem.com) has acquired the distribution and sale license for pharmaceutical grade hfc-227ea/p product for the regulated medical and pharmaceutical propellant market from DuPont fluorochemicals. For $4.1 million, Mexichem’s Mexichem Limited UK Ltd subsidiary, a…
BioAmber Inc. (Montreal, Canada; www.bio-amber.com), has announced that chief financial officer (CFO) Andrew Ashworth retired on December 31, 2014 and Francois Laurin has been hired to succeed Ashworth as the company's CFO. Andrew Ashworth is retiring after three and a…
Honeywell (Morristown, N.J.; www.honeywell.com) announced that it has started full-scale commercial production of a low global-warming-potential (GWP) material used as an aerosol propellant, insulating agent and refrigerant. The material, known by the industry designation HFO-1234ze and marketed by Honeywell under…