Business Roundup

OMV, an Austrian refiner, is investing $300 million to expand butadiene production at two of its refineries. It will build a new butadiene plant in Burghausen, Germany, and expand an existing plant in Schwechat, Austria. The company expects strong growth for the synthetic rubber raw material.

International Flavors & Fragrances will close its fragrance ingredients manufacturing facility in Augusta, Ga., by July 2014 and consolidate production in existing plants. The firm did not say how many jobs will be affected.

ExxonMobil has signed formal agreements regarding the sale of its biaxially oriented polypropylene film business to the Indian firm Jindal Poly Films for $235 million. BOPP films are used in packaging such as potato chip bags and cigarette boxes.

Solazyme, a developer of algae-derived oils, has formed a partnership with AkzoNobel to develop renewable oils for surfactants and coatings, two of Akzo’s main businesses. Solazyme expects oils to be available from its Brazilian joint venture next year.

Pixelligent Technologies, a maker of nanocrystal dispersions for electronic display, semiconductor, and industrial markets, has raised $5.1 million in a round of equity funding led by current investor Abell Foundation. The Baltimore-based company began commercial shipments earlier this year.

DSM has acquired a 19% stake in Yantai Andre Pectin, a Chinese producer of pectin, which is a texturizing agent derived from apple and citrus peels. DSM has the option to increase its stake to a majority at a later stage. Andre Pectin posts annual sales of about $40 million.

Nimbus Discovery and Shire are teaming up to develop small-molecule treatments for rare genetic diseases known as lysosomal storage disorders. The partners say they will use Nimbus computational chemistry to develop drugs that can penetrate inaccessible tissues.

Celgene is collaborating with Concert Pharmaceuticals on designing deuterium-modified compounds to target cancer and inflammation. Celgene will pay an up-front fee to Concert and possibly more than $300 million in milestones for each candidate it pursues.

Abide Therapeutics and Merck & Co. will develop small-molecule therapies to treat metabolic disease with a focus on type 2 diabetes. Abide, a specialist in hydrolase-targeting drug development, will receive an up-front payment and as much as $430 million in milestone payments for three products.