Business Roundup

Air Liquide has licensed a Mitsubishi Chemical process for producing butadiene by butene dehydrogenation. Air Liquide, which supplies butadiene technologies to other firms, notes that the Mitsubishi process allows butadiene to be made at chemical complexes that use feedstocks other than naphtha.

Yuhuang Chemical has awarded Amec Foster Wheeler a $604 million contract to help build its planned methanol plant in St. James Parish, La. The $1.85 billion plant will be the largest grassroots Chinese chemical investment on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Reliance Industries will acquire Kemrock Industries, an Indian producer of carbon fiber composites. Reliance, also of India, says the purchase will mark its entry into the composites business.

Clariant will make a low single-digit million-dollar investment in its oil services sites in Midland, Texas, and Clinton, Okla., The investment will be completed by the end of the year and includes new or expanded technical labs at both locations.

Sika is acquiring KVK Holding, a building products maker with $44 million in annual sales. Based in Prague, KVK operates three mortar plants, two bituminous membrane plants, and one expanded polystyrene insulation plant.

Frutarom Industries is on the acquisition trail again, this time agreeing to purchase 51% of Israeli competitor Turpaz Perfume & Flavor Extracts for $13 million. Turpaz has annual sales of $6 million and is Frutarom’s seventh acquisition this year.

Lonza will increase contract production of Portola Pharmaceuticals’ AndexXa, a modified human Factor Xa under FDA review as a blood coagulant. Lonza’s Visp, Switzerland, plant will join its Porrino, Spain, facility as a production site.

Sanofi will work with Axxam, an Italian contract research organization, to optimize small molecules targeting a range of central nervous system diseases. Axxam was formed in 2001 as a Bayer spin-off.