Business Roundup

Dorf Ketal has bought the Intec Polymers unit of fellow Indian firm Sanmar Group. Intec primarily produces organic titanates, polyvinyl formal, and polyisocyanates. The deal involves 60 people and a plant in Dadra in the south of Gujarat.

Lumena Resources, a Chinese chemical maker, is seeking to raise up to $190 million through a public listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Lumena owns two sodium sulfate mines in Sichuan province. It claims a global market share of more than 11% for the mineral, used as a detergent filler.

AkzoNobel will sell its 75% stake in a Pakistani terephthalic acid plant to KP Chemical, which produces the polyester intermediate in South Korea. AkzoNobel obtained the stake when it acquired ICI last year.

LyondellBasell Industries will start making ethyl tert-butyl ether at its Channelview, Texas, plant in the fourth quarter. The oxygenate will be based on ethanol made in Brazil from sugarcane. It will be shipped to Japan for blending into fuels that help the country meet its Kyoto protocol commitments.

Dow Chemical will close its polystyrene plant in Bilbao, Spain, during the third quarter. The company says it will supply customers from its remaining European polystyrene plants.

Dow AgroSciences and Phoenix-based World Wide Wheat will work together to develop advanced germplasm and traits in wheat. The partnership will allow Dow AgroSciences to expand its seed business into wheat and give World Wide Wheat greater global exposure.

Celldex Therapeutics has agreed to acquire CuraGen in a stock deal valued at $94.5 million. The deal will give Celldex 11 oncology-focused human antibodies that CuraGen developed in collaboration with Abgenix, now part of Amgen.

Air Liquide's health care business has acquired California-based Pacific Science, a 15-employee provider of cryobiology equipment and services to biobanks. The purchase extends Air Liquide's cryobiology reach into North America, which it says represents 40% of the global cryobiology market.

TorreyPines Therapeutics has decided to liquidate its assets and dissolve itself. The decision is subject to shareholder approval. In April, the company reduced its workforce to just three employees after having sold off or licensed most of its small-molecule drug programs to other firms.