Business Roundup

Sabic is buying out its 50-50 partner, Clariant, in the company Scientific Design for $130 million. Based in New Jersey, Scientific Design licenses technology for producing ethylene oxide and derivatives, polyols, and maleic anhydride.

Lanxess will expand capacity for chlorocresol at its plant in Krefeld, Germany, by about 50% later this quarter. The company says demand for the disinfectant has been rising in recent years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, African swine fever, and avian influenza.

Syngenta has acquired two biopesticides used in horticulture, turf, and forestry from Wales-based Bionema. One pesticide uses nematodes to kill leatherjackets and other pests, while the other is made from a pathogenic fungus that kills vine weevils and other insects.

BASF will spend more than $100 million to modernize its chloroformate and acid chloride facility in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The company says the project will increase capacity at the site by around 30%.

Givaudan has acquired a 48% stake in the Brazilian encapsulation company Nanovetores Group. Givaudan says Nanovetores’s technology is sustainable and will help it create products that use less active ingredient.

BASF has expanded the production of animal-feed enzymes at its plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, to meet growing demand. The facility can now complete more fermentation runs for phytase, xylanase, glucanase, and mannanase, the firm says.

Janssen Pharmaceuticals has acquired Anakuria Therapeutics, recently formed by Navitor Pharmaceuticals to develop rapamycin analogs that inhibit the protein mTORC1. Anakuria’s lead product, AT-20494, is a potential kidney disease drug.

Ethris has raised $26.3 million in series B funding to help advance messenger RNA therapeutics for respiratory diseases. The German biotech firm specializes in lipid nanoparticles that can deliver the RNA to the lungs.