Business Roundup

Bayer now says it will sell shares of Covestro, the newly formed independent company that was Bayer MaterialScience, on financial markets this fall instead of mid-2016. Analysts estimate the share offering will raise approximately $2.8 billion.

Three Mitsubishi companies and two Trinidadian ones will proceed with plans to build a $1 billion methanol and dimethyl ether complex in Trinidad & Tobago based on locally sourced natural gas. The project is partly financed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Solvay has appointed Swiss national Nicolas Cudré-Mauroux as general manager for research and innovation. Cudré-Mauroux joins Solvay from DuPont, where he was technology and innovation director for food ingredients.

Yara has purchased Evodor, a Swedish specialist in the vapor-phase control of hydrogen sulfide, a foul-smelling gas emitted by sewers and water treatment plants. The Norwegian fertilizer maker says Evodor will complement its own business in liquid-phase H₂S control.

Unity Scientific, a maker of near-infrared quality-control analyzers, has been acquired by Union Park Capital. The private equity firm says it intends to build a family of companies around Unity serving food, chemical, and pharmaceutical customers.

Frutarom Industries, an Israeli flavor and ingredients maker, has acquired 79% of Nutrafur for $14.5 million. The purchase of the Spanish maker of plant extracts with antioxidant properties is Frutarom’s 10th acquisition so far this year.

Purdue Pharma is paying up to $213 million for VM-902A, VM Pharma’s allosteric selective tropomyosin receptor kinase A (TrkA) inhibitor. The compound, which blocks a signaling protein that binds to nerve growth factor, is poised to start Phase II trials to treat chronic pain. The deal includes backup compounds and intellectual property.

Incyte will pay China’s Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine $25 million for the global rights, excluding China and Taiwan, to a new cancer drug. The monoclonal antibody, which is for patients with advanced solid tumors, has yet to go into clinical trials. Hengrui is one of a handful of Chinese companies aiming to develop innovative drugs.

Takeda Pharmaceutical and the biotech start-up Gencia are teaming to develop a new class of small molecules as treatments for hematological and inflammatory diseases. Called mitochondrial agonists of the glucocorticoid receptor, the compounds may have the therapeutic potential of steroids without the side effects. Gencia could get up to $500 million from Takeda.