BUSINESS ROUNDUP

Solutia says the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has confirmed its reorganization plan. The company expects the plan will become effective in late December or January, allowing it to emerge from bankruptcy.

Georgia Gulf will idle its 450 million-lb-per-year polyvinyl chloride plant in Sarnia, Ontario, until first-quarter 2008. The firm is temporarily shutting down capacity to make way for a modernized PVC line in Plaquemine, La., that will put another 450 million lb on the market.

DSM has begun construction of a $30 million plant to make waterborne acrylic resins in China. The new factory will be built on DSM's existing site in Guangdong province. It is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of next year.

AgraQuest, a developer of biopesticides derived from natural sources, has completed a $20 million funding round. The company says it will use the cash to launch five new products in the U.S. and to expand internationally.

Albemarle is building a 4,000-metric-ton-per-year plant in Nanjing, China, that will make bisphenol A diphosphate flame retardants, which are added to plastic enclosures for electronic devices. A flame retardant plant in Orangeburg, S.C., will be put to other uses when the Chinese plant opens next year.

Prosonix, an Oxford, England-based developer of ultrasonic particle engineering technologies, has raised about $10 million in added funding. New investors include London's Solon Ventures and two Belgian groups, the Entrepreneurs Fund and Quest for Growth.

Arrowhead Research has named Christopher Anzalone as its president and CEO. The nanotechnology developer will also acquire Anzalone's private equity firm, Benet Group, through which it will gain stakes in the tissue regeneration company Nanotope, cancer drug delivery firm Leonardo Biosystems, and a third company being formed.

New England Peptide has opened a 1,000-sq-ft addition to its Gardner, Mass., facility. CEO Dave Robinson says the expansion adds a dedicated large-scale production suite and anticipates the company's planned entry into the market for clinical and commercial-grade peptides.

Maxygen has licensed its dengue virus antigen technology to vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur. Maxygen will transfer a portfolio of preclinical dengue antigens for development as well as commercialization rights to a second-generation vaccine. Maxygen could receive up to $24.5 million plus royalties.

Hitachi Chemical will spend $32 million in Japan to increase its capacity for cerium oxide-based chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries by 50% to 15,000 metric tons per year. CMP slurries are used to smooth silicon wafers during semiconductor manufacturing.