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Business

Business Concentrates

July 25, 2005 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 83, Issue 30

Start-up firm to acquire Quintiles drug development service units

Aptuit, a newly launched drug development services firm, has agreed to purchase three businesses from Quintiles Transnational, a contract research company specializing in drug development and clinical trial support, for $125 million. The businesses being sold provide technologies and services for toxicology, pharmacology, packaging, and logistics associated with drug development and clinical trials. Quintiles says the transaction will allow it to focus on its core business of performing and supporting Phase I through IV clinical trials. The companies have also signed a two-year joint-marketing agreement under which Quintiles can offer development services in partnership with Aptuit. The three Quintiles businesses employ about 1,400 people. Aptuit, formed by Michael A. Griffith, former CEO of the contract chemistry firm ChiRex, received $150 million earlier this year from investment firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. Aptuit says it plans to invest $50 million over the next three years on operations and the establishment of what it says will be the industry's first information technology system offering customer-accessible project management and test data.

 

International Paper mulls sale of Arizona

International Paper is embarking on a major restructuring that includes the potential sale or spin-off of its Arizona Chemical business. Arizona, with sales last year of $670 million, is the largest U.S.-based producer of chemicals based on pine sap. It employs about 1,400 people. IP tried to sell Arizona in 2000 but took the business off the block in June 2002. Georgia-Pacific, an IP competitor, also tried, but failed, to sell its pine chemicals business in the same time frame.

 

Roche makes biotech buy

Roche has agreed to acquire GlycArt Biotechnology from a syndicate of private-equity investors for approximately $180 million. GlycArt, a Swiss company with technology to enhance therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, was founded in 2000 as a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. GlycArt and Roche have collaborated since September 2004 using GlycArt's GlycoMAb technology, which increases the biological activity of monoclonal antibodies for killing specific cells implicated in disease. The technology works by engineering the carbohydrate components of the antibodies.

 

Companies ink contract deals

Two pharmaceutical chemical firms have struck contract manufacturing agreements. Cambridge Major Laboratories will make ergothioneine for the antioxidant developer Oxis International. CML says it will synthesize the antioxidant in its new facility in Germantown, Wis. BioVectra, meanwhile, is producing a natural-source preparation of adrenal corticotropin hormone, the active ingredient in Questcor Pharmaceuticals' H.P. Acthar gel for neurological conditions. FDA just approved the transfer of production from Aventis to BioVectra's Prince Edward Island plant.

 

CHARGED
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Credit: LG CHEM PHOTO
LG Chem manufactures lithium batteries at South Korea's Ochang Techno Park.
Credit: LG CHEM PHOTO
LG Chem manufactures lithium batteries at South Korea's Ochang Techno Park.

LG to supply batteries to HP

LG Chem will make laptop computer battery packs for Hewlett-Packard under a supply agreement extending to the end of 2007. The batteries will be made by LG Chem and then assembled into a pack by a contract manufacturer. Each pack consists of six lithium-ion cells. LG says the contract is worth $300 million.

Chevron moves on PPS plans

Chevron Phillips Chemical has decided to locate its new polyphenylene sulfide plant in Borger, Texas, where it already makes the engineering polymer. The 22 million-lb-per-year plant will double the firm's PPS capacity there. Start-up is planned for mid-2007, assuming board approval, which will be sought later this year. The company had been considering various locations in the U.S. and abroad since last fall. Fortron Industries, a joint venture between Kureha Chemical Industry and Ticona, recently expanded its Wilmington, N.C., PPS unit and is also considering locations for a new plant.

 

Albemarle sets catalysts ...

Albemarle says strong demand for hydroprocessing catalysts spurred by stricter fuel specifications is driving expansions at three of its manufacturing sites. The company plans to build a 10,000-metric-ton-per-year plant in Pasadena, Texas, to start up by 2007. Albemarle will add a specialized production line in Amsterdam. And improvement projects will add more capacity in Pasadena and Amsterdam as well as at its Nippon Ketjen joint venture in Niihama, Japan.

 

... and buys land in Nanjing

Albemarle has signed a letter of intent with the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park to acquire land for a technology center, a repackaging plant for polyolefin cocatalysts, and production facilities for polymer additives. Albemarle isn't providing a schedule for the various projects. The company has also finalized the launch of a joint venture, Shanghai Jinhai Albemarle Fine Chemicals, that will make polymer stabilizers and their intermediates. Albemarle already operates a similar venture in Ningbo, in the nearby province of Zhejiang.

 

Nalco owners to cash in

According to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing, the investment banking and management group that now owns more than 60% of Nalco plans to sell 23 million shares of the water treatment company, reducing its ownership stake by about 16%. Blackstone Group, Apollo Management, GS Capital Partners, and company management expect to get as much as $467 million in the offering. The sale would raise the group's take from the sale of stock to more than $1 billion. The group originally bought the firm in November 2003 for $4.2 billion.

 

GE partners in water testing

GE's infrastructure, water, and process technologies unit will work with Gen-Probe to develop nucleic acid-based tests to detect illness-causing microorganisms in water. The two estimate that three-quarters of the 1 billion water safety tests conducted annually use culture methods that cannot deliver results as fast as nucleic acid-based tests. Gen-Probe says it hopes to replicate successes in clinical microbiology and blood screening markets. Last month, GE expanded an alliance with Pall Corp. to provide industrial customers with water treatment technologies.

 

Teen can sue over lead paint

Wisconsin's Supreme Court has ruled that a teenager can sue manufacturers of lead-based paint even though he can't say which company's pigment left him mentally retarded. The court ruling allows attorneys for 15-year-old Steven Thomas to sue manufacturers including DuPont, NL Industries, and Sherwin-Williams. Thomas has already collected more than $324,000 from landlords who did not properly maintain the dwellings, built in 1900 and 1905, where he allegedly ingested paint chips as a toddler. Separately, Rhode Island plans to retry its six-year-old case against lead paint makers in September. It dropped DuPont from the case earlier this month in return for a $12.5 million donation to lead awareness organizations.

 

GSK and Merck invest in biotech companies

GlaxoSmithKline will invest $3 million in a private placement by Adherex Technologies as part of a cross-licensing deal. Adherex has in-licensed GSK's oncology drug eniluracil, while GSK has an option to license Adherex' lead compound, the cancer treatment ADH-1. Merck, meanwhile, will collaborate with Geron to develop a vaccine that targets the enzyme telomerase, active in most cancer cells. Merck will make up-front and milestone payments to Geron and has agreed to acquire equity in the firm's next financing round.

 

Chiron cuts vaccine output

Chiron says it will not be able to supply any of its Begrivac influenza virus vaccine to non-U.S. markets during the 2005-06 flu season. The announcement follows the discovery of sterility problems at its plant in Marburg, Germany. Last year Chiron, based in Emoryville, Calif., halted its production of flu vaccine for the U.S. market after regulators found instances of contamination at its Liverpool, England, plant.

 

Icahn's shares go back to Mylan

Investor Carl Icahn says he has sold most of his shares in Mylan Laboratories back to the company at a profit. The shares were tendered during an auction by Mylan to purchase up to $1 billion of its stock from shareholders for about $19.50 a share. Icahn owned 26.3 million shares. Icahn prominently opposed Mylan's $4 billion bid to purchase King Pharmaceuticals, a deal that went by the wayside earlier this year.

 

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Credit: UVEX SPORTS PHOTO
Die Wechselscheiben der uvex-Brille Ñcrow proì sch¸tzen dank MakrolonÆ optimal die Augen, ohne Kompromisse bei der ƒsthetik zu machen. 

Leverkusen, Juli 2005              		(2005-0395/2)
Foto: UVEX SPORTS GmbH & Co. KG



Thanks to MakrolonÆ, the interchangeable lenses in the uvex "crow pro" goggles offer ideal protection for the eyes without making any compromise on appearance. 

Leverkusen, July 2005              		(2005-0395E/2)
Photo: UVEX SPORTS GmbH & Co. KG
Credit: UVEX SPORTS PHOTO

Bayer aids Tour helmets

Makrolon-brand polycarbonate resin from Bayer was used to make the outer shell of helmets worn by T-Mobile team riders in this year's Tour de France, which ended on Sunday. According to Bayer, the German firm Uvex used the polycarbonate to help keep the shell's weight to just 200 g. Uvex is also using Makrolon in the lenses of new cycling goggles.

Degussa invests in China firm

Degussa is forming a joint venture with Yingkou Sanzheng Fine Chemicals to manufacture cyanuric chloride in Yingkou in northeast China's Liaoning province. The venture, Degussa Sanzheng (Yingkou) Fine Chemicals, will be owned 65% by Degussa and 35% by Yingkou and will employ 650 people. Sanzheng is a leading Chinese producer of cyanuric chloride, an intermediate for agrochemicals and dyes, boasting capacity of 40,000 metric tons per year. Degussa, which now makes the chemical in Europe, expects the venture to generate annual sales of $42 million.

BUSINESS ROUNDUP

  • MGI Pharma will acquire Guilford Pharmaceuticals for $178 million in cash and stock, creating a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology and acute care. MGI's main product is the antinausea drug Aloxi, while Guilford markets the chemotherapy agent Gliadel. 

  • Dow Chemical has agreed to acquire Total Petrochemicals' business in the cross-linking agent divinylbenzene for an undisclosed sum. The deal does not include production assets.

  • Jubilant Organosys, the Indian drug and fine chemicals firm, has acquired a majority stake in Trinity Laboratories, a U.S. maker of generic drugs. The deal is worth almost $21 million.

  • SQM, the Chilean fertilizer company, has acquired Dubai-based Kemira Emirates Fertilizers for an undisclosed sum. The specialty fertilizer maker was 50% owned by Finland's Kemira and 50% by private investors, including the Union Group in the United Arab Emirates.

  • Akzo Nobel's plan to divest chemical businesses accounting for roughly $840 million in annual sales is on track to be completed by first-quarter 2006, according to Chief Financial Officer Rob Frohn. He made the comment in presenting Akzo's second-quarter results last week.

  • Solvay has expanded capacity for special grades of trona ore at its Green River, Wyo., facility. Solvay says demand for T-200 trona is growing due to increased use by power plants to control sulfur trioxide emissions.

 

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