Business Roundup

Arkema won’t exercise an option to increase its stake in Taixing Sunke Chemicals, an acrylic acid producer in Jiangsu, China. Arkema says market conditions in China don’t favor the investment and that it will deploy the unused funds in pursuit of small acquisitions in high-performance materials.

Kraton Performance Polymers has sold its polymer compounding business to PolyOne for $72 million. Under a long-term agreement, Kraton will supply polymers used to make the compounds. PolyOne says the purchase builds on its 2008 acquisition of the thermoplastic elastomer compounder GLS.

SolidEnergy Systems, a Massachusetts-based battery technology firm, has raised $12 million in its second round of venture funding, led by an unnamed U.S. auto company. SolidEnergy has developed an “ultrathin anode” lithium metal battery that it claims is safer and has higher energy density than standard Li-ion batteries.

Calysta, a biotech firm that produces fuels and food ingredients via natural gas fermentation, has raised $30 million in its third round of venture funding. Calysta and one of the investors, Cargill, will collaborate on proteins used in fish and livestock feed.

AVA Biochem, a Swiss biobased chemicals developer, will expand its portfolio to include 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), an input for the biobased polymer polyethylene furanoate. AVA’s first chemical, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, can be made into FDCA via oxidation.

Gevo has expanded an agreement to license its biobased isobutyl alcohol technology to the Argentinian firm Porta Hnos. Under the pact, Gevo says, at least four such plants could be built in Argentina, the first opening in 2017 with capacity for up to 19 million L per year.

Merck & Co. will pay $15 million to the U.K.’s Cancer Research Technology as part of a deal to develop inhibitors of protein arginine methyltransferase 5, which have the potential to treat blood disorders. The U.K. group licensed the technology on behalf of CTx, an Australian academic partnership.

AstraZeneca and Allergan will collaborate on the development of ATM-AVI, a fixed-dose combination of the older antibiotic aztreonam and the non-β-lactam β-lactamase inhibitor avibactam, for the treatment of gram-negative infections. The partners last year gained approval for Avycaz, which combines avibactam and ceftazidime.