Business Roundup

Axalta Coating Systems, the DuPont automotive paint business bought in 2013 by private equity firm Carlyle Group for $4.9 billion, is planning an initial public offering of up to $100 million in stock. According to a registration statement filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, Axalta recorded net income of $3.0 million on $4.3 billion in sales for the 12 months ending June 30.

DuPont has sold its business in copper fungicides, trade-named Kocide and ManKocide, to Japan’s Mitsui for an undisclosed sum. The deal includes a plant in Houston. DuPont will continue to sell the products in Asia for up to five years under a supply and distribution deal.

Clariant is planning a multi-million-dollar expansion of specialty ether amines output at its facility in Suzano, Brazil. When completed at the end of 2015, the project will double Clariant’s global capacity to make the specialty amines, which are used to remove contaminants from mining ores.

Almac, a pharmaceuticals services firm based in Northern Ireland, says it will invest $90 million and create 348 new jobs during the next five years in its pharma services and clinical services business units. The U.K. government will contribute $9 million to the company’s expansion.

Merck Millipore is investing $16 million in its Molsheim, France, facility to expand production of ready-to-use cell culture media. The company will also centralize R&D labs at the site in a new innovation center.

Kemira and Wilmar International have ended their plan to form a joint manufacturing venture for alkyl ketene dimer waxes in China. The two firms say their commercial objectives for the waxes, which impart water resistance to paper, have changed.

Quaker Chemical has acquired ECLI Products, an Illinois-based maker of specialty greases, for $52 million. ECLI has 35 employees and expects to post earnings of $7 million this year. Quaker, known as a maker of metalworking fluids, says the deal builds on its 2010 entry into the high-end grease business.

Silatronix, a start-up developing organosilicon compounds for energy storage devices, has raised $2.8 million from investors. The company says its materials can be used as electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries to enhance thermal stability and enable the use of high-energy-density anodes and high-voltage cathodes.

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is expanding its cell culture manufacturing capacity with large-volume, single-use bioreactors. By early next year, the firm will have added a 2,000-L reactor apiece at its Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Billingham, En­gland, sites.