Sumitomo Chemical Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp) has completed construction of two catalyst manufacturing lines in its Chiba Works location (Ichihara, Chiba, Japan) to meet the demand of companies licensing its polypropylene (PP) and propylene oxide (PO) manufacturing technology, in order…
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), was stable (0.0 percent change) in December on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis following a 0.1 percent gain in November.…
Today, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and an affiliate of Lone Star Global Acquisitions, LLC (www.lonestarfunds.com), a global private equity firm, signed a purchase agreement for the acquisition of BASF’s Construction Chemicals business. The purchase price on a cash and…
The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) reported that fourth quarter U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes continue on a mixed note, with a 0.3 percent decline in November following a 0.1 percent gain in October. All changes in the…
According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) fell by 0.8 percent in November after gains the previous three months. During November, chemical output declined across all regions, ACC says.…
Apergy Corp.(The Woodlands, Tex.; www.apergy.com) and Ecolab Inc. (St. Paul, Minn.; www.ecolab.com) announced that their Boards of Directors have approved a definitive agreement pursuant to which Ecolab will separate the Upstream Energy business of Nalco Champion (which is being renamed…
Altana AG (Wesel, Germany; www.altana.com) is taking over the Swiss overprint varnish specialist Schmid Rhyner AG (Adliswil, Switzerland), thereby strategically expanding its ACTEGA division (www.actega.com). “In acquiring Schmid Rhyner, we are continuing to systematically pursue the Altana strategy of generating…
KBR, Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) announced that it has been awarded the Project Management Consultancy Services contract by Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) for front-end engineering design (FEED) definition at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. Under the terms of the…
Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) has agreed to sell its entire Masterbatches business to PolyOne Corp. (Avon Lake, Ohio; www.polyone.com). The transaction values the Masterbatches business at $1,560 million, representing about 12.2 times the last twelve months reported EBITDA (ending September…
Hitachi, Ltd. (Toyko; www.hitachi.com) announced that it has executed a tender offer agreement with Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; Tokyo; www.sdk.co.jp) and HC Holdings K.K, a wholly- owned subsidiary of SDK, under which Hitachi agrees to tender all shares of common…