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Latest News: Business

Altana acquires enamels business in India

Elantas, a division of the specialty chemicals group Altana (Wesel, Germany; www.altana.com), is acquiring the wire enamels activities of Hubergroup India and thus growing its business in India. The products taken over will be manufactured at the Ankleshwar production site…

Grupa Azoty launches plastics compounding site in Poland

Grupa Azoty SA (Tarnów, Poland; www.grupaazoty.com) has announced that a subsidiary operating within its Plastics Business Segment has launched a new manufacturing/compounding plant for modified plastics with a production capacity of 50,000 tons per year. The business and technological partner…

Lonza and Allevi to collaborate on advancement of bioprinting capabilities

Lonza Group (Basel, Switzerland; www.lonza.com) and Allevi (Philadelphia, Pa.; www.allevi3d.com) are collaborating to bring the elements needed for 3D bioprinting together. Combining Lonza’s primary cells and media with Allevi’s 3D bioprinters and bioink production capabilities will empower researchers with the…

Elkem to acquire Chinese silicone manufacturer Polysil

Elkem ASA (Oslo, Norway; www.elkem.com) has entered into an agreement to acquire all of the shares in Polysil, a leading Chinese silicone elastomer & resins material manufacturer with strong positions in baby-care and food-grade silicones, as well as silicone products…

Lenzing and Duratex to jointly build world-scale dissolving wood-pulp plant in Brazil

The Lenzing Group (Lenzing, Austria; www.lenzing.com) and Duratex, the largest producer of industrialized wood panels in the southern hemisphere, announce that they will jointly build a 500,000-ton dissolving wood-pulp plant in the State of Minas Gerais, near Sao Paulo (Brazil).…

Sumitomo completes construction of two catalyst manufacturing lines in Chiba

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…

Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB) is stable in December, ACC says

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.…

Lone Star Funds to acquire BASF’s Construction Chemicals business

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…

U.S. specialty chemical markets continue 4th quarter on mixed note, ACC says

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…

U.S. chemical production fell in November, ACC says

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.…