Business Roundup

Arkema plans a reorganization of its organic peroxides business in Crosby, Texas, that will cut 26 jobs from the current headcount of 84. The measures will strengthen the competitiveness of the facility, Arkema says.

GenTek's General Chemical subsidiary has acquired Bay Chemical & Supply, an Odem, Texas, producer of water treatment chemicals, for $7 million. GenTek says the purchase will add new products to its portfolio and improve its raw material sourcing arrangements.

Bayer has sold part of its unsaturated polyester resins business to the Italian company Veneziani for an undisclosed price. The products involved in the transaction are used mainly in wood finishes. Veneziani produces engineering polymers, including unsaturated polyesters, at its site in Garbagnate, Italy.

Kemira is selling its 50% stake in the Japanese hydrogen peroxide joint venture Kemira-Ube to partner Ube Industries. Ube will form a new hydrogen peroxide joint-venture company with Mitsubishi Corp. Kemira says it will serve Japanese pulp and paper chemicals customers through its wholly owned operation, Kemira Japan.

Metabolic Explorer has commissioned a pilot plant that makes 1,3-propanediol via a bacterial fermentation process. The French biotech company says its two other proprietary fermentation products, 1,2-propanediol and butanol, are due to enter the prepilot phase in the first half of this year.

Asahi Kasei has started expanding facilities in Suzhou, China, that make photosensitive dry films used by manufacturers of printed wiring boards. When the work is complete in April, Asahi's dry-film capacity in Suzhou will increase by more than 50% to 280 million meters per year.

Boston-Power, which is developing what it calls safer and longer lasting lithium-ion batteries, has received a $45 million investment from several venture capital firms. Separately, the company has entered a battery manufacturing agreement with China's GP Batteries.

Evonik Industries, formerly Degussa, has expanded an R&D center that it opened five years ago in Mumbai. The project includes the doubling of lab space at the site devoted to polymers used in drug delivery.

Pfizer has signed an agreement with Source MDx under which the companies will develop and validate RNA-based pharmacodynamic and predictive biomarkers for use in Pfizer's cancer and inflammation drug programs. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Lonza has agreed to sell most of its 31% holding in Polynt to Investindustrial, a European investment firm. It will maintain a 3.4% stake in the polymer intermediates firm. Lonza launched Polynt on the Milan stock exchange in 2006.