Sigma-Aldrich buys Honeywell pharma plant

Honeywell Specialty Materials has sold its Iropharm pharmaceutical chemicals facility in Arklow, Ireland, to Sigma-Aldrich for an undisclosed sum. The deal signals the completion of Honeywell's exit from the active pharmaceutical ingredients business. It is also the latest in a run of acquisitions by Sigma-Aldrich for its SAFC fine and pharmaceutical chemicals division, including the purchases of Tetrionics, Ultrafine, and JRH Biosciences. Sigma-Aldrich said earlier this year that it was in the market for manufacturing assets (C&EN, Feb. 20, page 20). The Arklow facility, purchased by Honeywell from Iropharm in 1997, has annual revenues of roughly $16 million. It features one of the world's few multicolumn commercial-scale simulated moving bed (SMB) chromatographic separation units, Sigma-Aldrich notes.