Business Roundup

Lanxess will spend nearly $15 million to upgrade its rubber chemicals plant in Antwerp, Belgium, with a new production process for accelerators. In addition, a realignment of the site's organizational structure will strengthen its global competitiveness, Lanxess says.

Ferro has sold its Niagara Falls, N.Y., facility to TAM Ceramics for an undisclosed sum. Ferro says the sale completes a previously announced restructuring of its U.S. electronic materials business. Separately, Ferro says it will eliminate about 50 jobs in its worldwide inorganic specialties business.

China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina), Blackstone Group, and Fox Paine Management have abandoned their $2.8 billion offer to acquire the Australian agrochemical producer Nufarm. A ChemChina spokesman in Shanghai has been quoted as saying his firm may still bid for Nufarm on its own.

BASF is investing $5 million in a $400 million venture capital fund run by Arch Venture Partners. Arch is a Chicago-based firm that invests in start-ups in materials science, life sciences, information technology, and biotechnology, usually spinoffs from universities or national labs.

JSR Micro and IBM will collaborate on semiconductor materials and processes. JSR, a supplier of electronic chemicals, says the two will explore future lithography and self-assembly technologies. JSR employees will work at IBM's Almaden Research Center, San Jose, Calif.

Showa Denko will spend $11 million to increase its production capacity for aluminum gallium indium phosphide light-emitting diode chips at its Chichibu plant in Japan. The components are used in the manufacturing of outdoor displays.

Biogen Idec has ended a review of strategic alternatives in which it offered itself for sale to major pharmaceutical companies. Biogen says no definitive offers emerged and that it will remain an independent company.

DSM will have access to commercial quantities of alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes from biocatalyst developer IEP to use in the manufacture of chiral alcohols. IEP will supply the enzymes directly or allow DSM to produce them in its enzyme plants. The two companies set up a biocatalyst screening partnership in 2006.

Jubilant Biosys will work with Forest Laboratories to discover and develop drugs to treat metabolic disorders. India's Jubilant will perform early drug discovery activities, whereas Forest will undertake preclinical and clinical drug development. The U.S. firm will own rights to the drugs and will provide research funding and milestone payments to Jubilant.

Gene Logic will sell its genomics assets to Ocimum Biosolutions and rename itself Ore Pharmaceuticals. The Gaithersburg, Md., firm says the move will allow it to focus on its "drug repositioning" business, which finds new uses for drug candidates that have stalled in development.