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Business

Business Roundup

December 17, 2012 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 90, Issue 51

Talison Lithium has ended a deal to be acquired by the lithium chemicals maker Rockwood Holdings for about $730 million. Instead, the Australian firm is taking an $848 million offer from the Chinese lithium chemicals maker Chengdu Tianqi Industry, which bested Rockwood’s offer last month.

Evonik Industries will invest in the “double-digit million euro range” to build a 40,000-metric-ton-per-year plant in Marl, Germany, for 1,2-cyclo­hexane dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester, a phthalate-free plasticizer. The plant is expected to open in the second half of 2013.

Pertamina,, an Indonesian state-owned oil company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the trading firm Mitsubishi Corp. for the construction of a petrochemical complex in Indonesia. Pertamina signed similar agreements a few days earlier with South Korea’s SK Global Chemical and Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical.

NatureWorks and Arkema’s Altuglas International unit will codevelop polymer alloys based on Altuglas’ poly(methyl methacrylate) and biobased polylactic acid from NatureWorks. The firms are targeting durable applications such as signage and lighting.

Altana has agreed to acquire Chester, N.Y.-based ChemCor, a family-owned producer of wax emulsions and specialty wax additives, for an undisclosed sum. ChemCor has annual sales of about $17 million. It will be absorbed into the German firm’s additives and instruments division.

Verdezyne, an industrial biotech firm, will supply biobased adipic acid to Universal Fiber Systems for production of nylon 6,6 fibers. Bristol, Va.-based Universal Fiber is a maker of sustainable yarns for carpet and performance apparel markets.

Teva Pharmaceutical will pay Xenon Pharmaceuticals $41 million for the right to develop the pain drug XEN402 in the U.S. A topical version of XEN402, which blocks the sodium channels Nav1.7 and Nav1.8, was shown in Phase II trials to lessen pain associated with a complication of shingles.

Sofinnova Partners has raised $312 million for its seventh life sciences venture capital fund. The French firm has also launched the Sofinnova Green Seed Fund to invest in industrial biotech start-ups. Solvay is among the firms investing in the $29 million seed fund.

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