Business Concentrates

Shin-Etsu continues spending push with methylcellulose hike

Maintaining the tempo in what has become a major spending spree, Shin-Etsu Chemical will invest $190 million to expand and upgrade its methylcellulose facilities in Japan and Germany. To meet expected growth in demand, the company will increase capacity at its Tylose plant in Germany from 27,000 to 40,000 metric tons per year. A more modest 3,000-metric-ton increase will bring capacity to 23,000 metric tons at its plant in Naoetsu, Niigata, Japan. The Naoetsu facility will also be upgraded to produce a variety of small-volume products under Good Manufacturing Practices for pharmaceutical customers. The German site will focus more on the production of hydroxyethylcellulose and methylcellulose for the construction and coating materials industries. Shin-Etsu became the world's largest producer of methylcellulose when it acquired Clariant's cellulose business about a year ago. Since December, Shin-Etsu has announced a total of $2.2 billion in capital expenditure projects to boost its polyvinyl chloride, silicon wafers, and now cellulose businesses.

DuPont in TiO₂ talks in China

DuPont and officials of the Chinese city of Dongying in Shandong province have begun negotiations that could result in a world-scale titanium dioxide plant in the city's economic development zone. "Current and forecast demand for TiO₂ in Asian markets, especially China, is growing faster than in any other region of the world," says Sam Severance, general manager of DuPont Titanium Technologies. "Our goal is to be strategically positioned as the leading TiO₂ supplier in that expansion."  

Sankyo, Daiichi confirm merger

In October, Sankyo Co. and Daiichi Pharmaceutical will combine into a new company with annual sales of more than $8.7 billion. The Japanese firms say the merger will give them "critical mass" in R&D and enable the new firm to be globally competitive. The new company will be named Daiichi Sankyo Co., but Sankyo is effectively taking over Daiichi. A leading Japanese newspaper had already revealed the broad outline of the merger, which won't be complete until 2007 (C&EN, Feb. 28, page 17). Daiichi Sankyo will be the second largest pharmaceutical company in Japan after Takeda. Japan's third largest drug company, Astellas, is being created from the merger of Fujisawa Pharmaceutical and Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical.

Dow enters fuel-cell pact

Dow Chemical and Millennium Cell are collaborating on the commercialization of Millennium's Hydrogen-on-Demand sodium borohydride-based hydrogen storage system for use in fuel cells for consumer electronic and military applications. The three-year program will target milestones such as securing funding from the military and a leading consumer electronics maker. Dow is taking a 3% stake in Millennium Cell. As the milestones are reached, Dow will take additional equity, up to $5 million. Millennium will ask shareholders to approve a potential issuance of 19.9% of its stock to Dow. Millennium also has collaborated with Rohm and Haas, U.S. Borax, and Avantium Technologies.

Solvay boosts Thai affiliate

Polyvinyl chloride producer Vinythai will spend about $60 million to double its chlorine and ethylene dichloride capacity. The move follows an earlier decision to double capacity for vinyl chloride in order to supply regional PVC producers. Solvay is the major shareholder in Vinythai, with a 46.4% stake. Vinythai's facilities are at the Map Ta Phut industrial park in Rayong province.

Lanxess moves three China projects ahead

Lanxess, Bayer's industrial chemicals spin-off, has formed a Chinese joint venture to make antioxidants for the rubber industry. The venture will build a plant in Anhui province, making the antioxidant N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N´-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6-PPD), which will be sold under the Lanxess brand Vulkanox. Lanxess will share its technology and take a minority stake in the venture. Another venture, in which Lanxess has a 55% stake, has begun to move a hydrazine hydrate plant from Baytown, Texas, to China's Shandong province. The facility is scheduled to open this year. In Wuxi, Lanxess says it recently doubled capacity at a plant producing tanning materials for the leather industry.

Flexsys sues over patents

Flexsys is alleging infringement of its patents on a process for making 4-aminodiphenylamine and a derivative, the antioxidant N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N´-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6-PPD). Flexsys, a rubber additives joint venture of Solutia and Akzo Nobel, has filed suit in U.S. district court against firms including Kumho Tire, Sovereign Chemical, and Sinorgchem. It also filed an action before the International Trade Commission. Flexsys received a green chemistry award from EPA in 1998 for its new process.

Skin care buy for Engelhard

After buying personal care ingredients maker Collaborative Laboratories last July, Engelhard is now offering to buy Coletica, another developer of skin care compounds. The two-step deal for the firm, which has 120 employees and 2004 sales of $34 million, is worth $86 million. In the first step, Engelhard has offered to purchase 78% of the firm's shares from a group led by Coletica's founder and president. If approved, Engelhard then expects to buy the remaining publicly traded shares. Coletica was started in Lyon, France, in 1985 and has two facilities in that city. Clients include Avon, Chanel, Estée Lauder, Henkel, and L'Oreal.

P2i coating finds new uses

British firm P2i is finding new uses for super-liquid-repellent coatings developed by the U.K. Ministry of Defence's research labs. The plasma process was originally developed to protect armed forces and emergency services personnel against chemical attacks. P2i was established last year to commercialize the technology and says it is finding applications in medical textiles and consumables such as filters, microplates, and pipette tips. Deposited in layers only molecules thick over the surface of a product, the coating penetrates deep into fabrics and binds to fiber surfaces at the molecular level, according to P2i. The result, it says, is a coating with a surface energy one-third that of the benchmark, polytetrafluoroethylene.

BASF slates service center

In a move expected to create up to 600 new jobs, BASF will build up a new service center for finances, accounts, and human resources in eastern Berlin. The project will pull together services that are currently provided on a local basis by more than 100 BASF subsidiaries across Europe. BASF human resources head Hans-Carsten Hansen says the decision to build in Berlin "is based on an innovative collective agreement which gives us international competitiveness as a service provider." The center is due to open by the end of the year.

Mylan drops bid for King

Mylan Laboratories has dropped its $4 billion bid for King Pharmaceuticals. The companies "were not able to agree upon terms," Mylan says. Mylan also reports that there is a delay in approval of a new drug, Nebivolol, that it had hoped to market with King's sales force. FDA has requested more data on the drug, which is currently under review. Investor Carl Icahn, who had been prominently opposed to the merger, calls the cancelation "a victory for all Mylan shareholders." He is offering to acquire Mylan for $20 per share to "set up a bidding process for Mylan."

Fluorine stars in emissions-cutting scheme

Two of the first plants registered under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto protocol are set to reduce emissions of hydrofluorocarbon-23, a by-product from the manufacture of hydrochlorofluorocarbon-22 refrigerant. One project has been developed by Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd., in India, and the other by Foosung Group, in South Korea. The U.K.'s Ineos Fluor is the technical sponsor for both. Both "will deliver significant and sustainable greenhouse gas reductions that would not have occurred if it was not for the Clean Development Mechanism," Ineos Fluor CEO David Price says.

Ag discovery pacts signed

The biotech firm Icoria has licensed to Syngenta the rights to 30 compounds believed to be active fungal inhibitors. Syngenta will evaluate the compounds for 18 months to determine which to develop as agricultural fungicides. Syngenta also has the rights to the compounds in human health, animal health, household, and other applications. Meanwhile, Entercel and the discovery chemistry firm ChemDiv have signed an agreement under which Entercel will have access to ChemDiv's compound collection and bioscreening technologies for its agricultural discovery program.

DuPont to sell DUSA stake

Turkey's Sabanci Holding has agreed to buy DuPont's half stake in their nylon joint venture, DUSA International, for $110 million. The venture, formed in 2000, is a supplier of nylon yarn and fabric for tire reinforcement and rope with annual sales of about $550 million. Sabanci bought DuPont's 50% share in their European polyester fiber and intermediates joint venture, DuPontSA, last year. DuPont also sold most of its global fiber businesses to Koch Industries last year.

BUSINESS ROUNDUP

Rohm and Haas has picked Shanghai's Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park as the site for its planned Chinese R&D center. Rohm and Haas says it will invest an initial $30 million in the center. It will employ 300 people at first but is capable of employing up to 1,500.

W.R. Grace has purchased Midland Dexter Venezuela, a Latin American supplier of coatings and sealants for rigid packaging. Grace says the purchase will enhance its Darex coatings and sealants business.

UCB has wrapped up the sale of its Surface Specialties business to Cytec Industries. The transaction amount was roughly $1.84 billion, with about $1.5 billion in cash and the remainder in Cytec shares.

Chiron's vaccine license has been reinstated by U.K. authorities, clearing the firm to begin full production of Fluvirin vaccine for the 2005-06 flu season. FDA says it will inspect the firm's Liverpool plant when manufacturing is in full swing.

BASF will buy out its partner, Japan's NOF Corp., in the 50-50 joint venture BASF NOF Coatings, effective April 1. BASF says it plans to develop the business as its new regional hub for coatings in Asia, aiming particularly at the auto industry.

Sigma-Aldrich has completed the acquisition of JRH Biosciences from CSL Ltd. for $370 million in cash. Lenexa, Kan.-based JRH, a supplier of cell culture and sera products to the biopharmaceutical industry, had 2004 sales of $150 million.

Discovery Partners International has agreed to purchase Biofrontera Discovery, the natural products drug discovery subsidiary of the German specialty drug firm Biofrontera, for an undisclosed sum.