Chinese Firm Halts U.S. Plant Project

UniTao, the Chinese company that bought a Boehringer Ingelheim pharmaceutical chemicals plant in Petersburg, Va., last November says it has decided not to reopen the facility “until business conditions improve.” The little-known company paid $22.5 million for the plant, which employed about 240 people when Boehringer closed it in 2013. At the time, Unitao said former Boehringer workers would be “first in line” for positions at a reopened plant. Now the firm says it will keep only a small team on site. It won’t accept local and state economic development grants for job creation.