Business Roundup

Rohm and Haas is exploring strategic options for its salt business that could include a sale, joint venture, initial public offering, or retention. Sales at the company's salt unit totaled $829 million in 2006.

Intertek Group has acquired ICI's measurement science group for an undisclosed sum. All of the unit's 42 personnel, who are based at ICI's Wilton R&D center in England, will transfer to the new owner. Intertek calls the unit "one of the mostly highly respected measurement science facilities in the U.K."

NSF International, a testing and public health certification company, has reached an agreement to buy CMi, a U.K.-based food-safety assurance firm. NSF says the acquisition will allow it to establish a leading position in the global food-safety market.

Israel Chemicals and India-based Zuari Industries have agreed to establish a 10,000-metric-ton-per-year water-soluble fertilizer plant in India. Israel Chemicals says water-soluble fertilizer sales in India have doubled each year since 2003.

CSBP, the chemicals subsidiary of Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers, will pay $117 million for Australian Vinyls, Australia's only producer of polyvinyl chloride. Australian Vinyls is now owned by senior management and Colonial First State Private Equity.

Lubrizol will open a plant in Seremban, Malaysia, that will support the firm's line of Estane engineered polymers. Lubrizol says the plant will manufacture injection-molded resins that prevent electrostatic discharge.

Pfizer and Hydra Biosciences will work together to develop pain therapies based on Hydra's transient receptor potential channel technology. Under the agreement, Hydra could receive payments totaling $195 million for the collaboration's first launched product.

Momentive Performance Materials has won Chinese government approval for a previously disclosed joint venture to make siloxane and derivatives in Jiande, Zhejiang province (C&EN, April 30, page 18). The plant will cost $97 million and is expected to open in the first half of 2009.

Wacker Chemie says a recently disclosed joint venture with Schott Solar to produce silicon wafers for solar cells (C&EN, July 30, page 15) will invest $500 million and create at least 700 new jobs at two German sites. According to Wacker, the joint venture will be one of the world's five largest solar wafer makers by 2012.