Business Roundup

Bayer has reduced its shareholding in Covestro, its former plastics business, from 21.0% to 6.8%, raising about $2.6 billion. To date, Bayer’s sale of shares in Covestro has netted the firm more than $10.6 billion.

Nissan Chemical America will spend $1.4 million to expand production of its nanoActiv products in Pasadena, Texas. The surface-modified nanoparticles are fracture-opening additives used in oil and gas drilling.

Eastman Chemical will expand capacity in Kingsport, Tenn., for its PETG and PCTG copolyester resins by 25%. The firm says it just completed an expansion of its Tritan copolyester output at the site.

Lanxess has signed a tentative agreement with Standard Lithium under which the latter will extract lithium from the Arkansas brines from which Lanxess extracts bromine. Standard Lithium will pay Lanxess $3 million to reserve access to the brine.

Sabo, an Italian specialty chemical maker, has acquired the personal care business unit of Domus Chemicals, which is also based in Italy. The acquisition brings a line of specialty esters and emollients to Sabo’s existing line of functional and active ingredients for personal care.

Agilent Technologies is breaking ground on a 1,400-m² extension of its Cedar Creek, Texas, logistics center. The scientific instrumentation firm says the expansion will allow it to satisfy growing demand for next-generation sequencing products.

Sygnis, a German manufacturer of products for genomics and proteomics research, has acquired TGR Biosciences, an Australian producer of research reagents. The deal will bring cross-selling opportunities, says Sygnis CEO Heikki Lanckriet.

Memo Therapeutics, a spin-off from ETH Zurich, has secured an initial financing round of $5.1 million. The funds will allow the firm to develop its antibody discovery technology and push its antibodies for immuno-oncology and infectious diseases toward early clinical studies.