Business Roundup

DSM has confirmed press reports that it is exploring the acquisition of Provimi in cooperation with the animal nutrition company Nutreco. Provimi is an animal nutrition firm headquartered in the Netherlands. It operates 70 plants in 26 countries and has 7,000 employees.

FMC has agreed to acquire the European persulfates business of RheinPerChemie. RheinPerChemie manufactures persulfates in Rheinfelden, Germany. FMC says its own plant in Tonawanda, N.Y., is the world’s largest persulfates facility.

Cabot will expand capacity of its fumed silica plant in Barry, Wales, by 25% by 2012 as part of a three-year plan to boost its global fumed metal oxide capacity by 35–40%. Cabot’s raw material is silanes from an adjacent Dow Corning facility. Dow Corning, in turn, uses fumed silica in compounded silicones.

Solutia has selected Kuantan, Malaysia, for its new polyvinyl butyral resin plant. PVB is used as an interlayer in glass to prevent car windshields from shattering. Solutia completed a PVB interlayer plant in Suzhou, China, in 2007.

Lubrizol is initiating a multi-million dollar project to expand capacity for chlorinated polyvinyl chloride at its Louisville, Ky., plant by the end of next year. CPVC is a temperature- and fire-resistant polymer used in building sprinkler systems.

BASF and the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter are starting a second research program on magnetocaloric materials. Because they heat up when placed in a magnetic field and cool down when removed, such materials may be an alternative to fluorocarbons in air conditioners, BASF says.

Baxter International has established Baxter Ventures to invest up to $200 million in start-up firms. The firm is targeting “promising early-stage companies developing therapies that complement Baxter’s existing portfolio.”

Amyris has commissioned a second industrial-scale facility for its biobased farnesene. The facility is at a site in León, Spain, owned by Antibióticos. The firm also has extended its collaboration with flavors and fragrances company Firmenich to include a third biobased ingredient.

Merck & Co. and China’s Simcere Pharmaceutical Group have agreed to set up a joint venture to provide medicines in China. The companies will work together to develop and sell branded pharmaceutical products for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, including high cholesterol and diabetes.