Business Roundup

Cytec Industries has sold its Umeco distribution product line to Cathay Investments for $8.6 million. In another move related to its $439 million purchase of Umeco last year, Cytec is closing plants in Costa Mesa, Adelanto, and Huntington Beach, Calif., and moving production to Winona, Minn., and Tulsa. Some 120 employees are affected.

Wacker Silicones has strengthened the capabilities of its business development staff in Asia. The company says it has created five business teams in the region that have improved access to the company’s technical support and product development capabilities.

DuPont has opened a probiotic blending and packaging facility in Beijing. DuPont, which entered the probiotics business with the purchase of Danisco in 2011, says the global market for the food ingredients, worth $32 billion today, will grow to $45 billion by 2018.

PolyOne will close six North American polymer compounding plants and move production to other sites. The move, which follows the firm’s March acquisition of rival Spartech, will cost about $45 million and affect 250 employees. Savings will be about $25 million annually by 2015, the firm says.

Emerald Polymer Additives has completed process control upgrades at its rubber accelerator plant in Henry, Ill. Emerald, which operates much of the former BF Goodrich chemical business, says it is one of the few remaining U.S. producers of key rubber accelerators and antioxidants.

Sapphire Energy, an algae oil producer, has expanded its partnership with industrial gas firm Linde to commercialize technology for converting algal biomass into crude oil. The firms will refine Sapphire’s hydrothermal treatment process and license the technology for other biomass sources.

Roche plans to spend more than $115 million to build a training center at its manufacturing site in Kaiseraugst, Switzerland. Headcount at the site has grown 30% to around 1,600 in the past five years, the firm says, and demand for employee training is rising.

Crystal Pharmatech, a contract research firm focused on information about pharmaceuticals in the solid state, has moved into new quarters at the BioBay industrial park in Suzhou, China. The three-year-old firm says the new quarters will offer improved intellectual property security.