Business Roundup

Honeywell’s UOP subsidiary has purchased a 70% stake in Thomas Russell Co. for $525 million. Founded in 2002, TRC provides skid-mounted plants to recover and upgrade natural gas liquids from conventional and shale gas wells.

Sichuan Chemical has signed an agreement to purchase 500,000 metric tons per year of potash from Prospect Global Resources, which plans to open a potash mine in Holbrook, Ariz., by early 2016. The 10-year deal is valued at $2 billion and represents about 25% of the mine’s expected output.

Sensient Technologies will build a colors and flavors R&D and manufacturing complex in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Milwaukee-based firm says the facility will provide African customers with local service.

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories will acquire all shares of Amsterdam-based OctoPlus for $36 million. Through the acquisition, the Indian drug firm will gain drug formulation capabilities and a research base in the Netherlands.

Wellcome Trust has awarded the British drug discovery firm Summit $6.5 million, to be allotted in success-based payments, toward the clinical development of the antibiotic SMT 19969. The first payment will support a Phase I study of the small molecule, which combats Clostridium difficile infections.

Abbott will pay $25 million for rights to use Seattle Genetics’ auristatin-based antibody-drug conjugate technology with additional oncology targets. Last year, Abbott paid $8 million for the rights to use it with a single oncology target.

Astellas Pharma will collaborate with Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology to find treatments for neglected tropical diseases caused by protozoan parasites. The Japanese firm will apply its fragment-based drug discovery methods to the project.