Business Roundup

Mitsubishi Materials suffered an explosion at a polysilicon plant in Yokkaichi, Japan, on Jan. 9. At least five workers died and 12 were injured. The accident occurred when employees and contractors were performing maintenance work on a heat exchanger, the company told Japanese TV.

Sun Chemical has purchased the shares of its joint-venture partner in the Colombia-based printing-ink makers Tintas and Sinclair. The ink makers have more than $100 million in annual sales to packaging customers.

LyondellBasell has restarted a methanol plant in Channelview, Texas, idled since 2004 because of then-rising natural gas prices. The start-up takes advantage of low-cost shale-derived natural gas.

Amprius, a manufacturer of high-energy and high-capacity lithium-ion batteries, has received $30 million in a third round of venture funding, led by Asian private equity firm SAIF Partners. The firm will use the money to commercialize its batteries and develop its next generation of technology.

Kemira, a Finnish specialty chemical firm, has appointed Jari Rosendal, 48, to take over as president and CEO beginning May 1. Rosendal is currently president of the Americas region for Finnish minerals and metals processing firm Outotec. Rosendal will replace Wolfgang Büchele, who will become president and CEO of Linde.

AbbVie has paid Seattle Genetics $25 million up front to expand an existing antibody-drug conjugate partnership. Under the broader pact, AbbVie will be allowed to use the biotech’s ADC technology with AbbVie antibodies against oncology targets, its pyrrolobenzodiazepine dimer ADC technology, and its EC-mAb site-specific conjugation technology.

Sutro Biopharma’s cell-free protein synthesis technology will be used by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to produce bispecific antibodies discovered by the hospital to treat neuroblastoma in children. The two will work to isolate an effective bispecific antibody to treat neuroblastoma, a type of solid brain tumor.

ANSYS, an engineering simulation software vendor, has acquired Reaction Design, a chemistry simulation software developer, for an undisclosed sum. ANSYS plans to combine its computational fluid dynamics products with Reaction Design’s software to develop combustion simulation tools.