Business Roundup

Elementis, a British specialty chemical company, is buying the talc supplier Mondo Minerals from Advent International for $600 million. Mondo has annual sales of about $140 million. Elementis says the purchase advances its focus on high-growth businesses.

Omnova Solutions will close its styrene-butadiene emulsions plant in Green Bay, Wisc., and consolidate production in Mogadore, Ohio. The company blames the closure on the decline of the paper market.

Oxea will expand output at its neopentyl glycol plant in Oberhausen, Germany, by 2020. The firm says demand for the glycol is growing to make powder coatings and polyester resins.

Air Liquide has paid $12 million for a minority stake in Shanghai Sinotran New Energy Automobile Operation. The company operates a fleet of 500 hydrogen-powered delivery trucks and a hydrogen fueling station in Shanghai.

DSM has acquired a 50% stake in Mixfit, a start-up that analyzes a person’s makeup, diet, lifestyle, and goals to create beverages containing minerals and vitamins from DSM. The two firms formed an initial agreement in April.

Agilent Technologies will acquire ProZyme, a provider of glycan analysis reagents, kits, and standards. Agilent says the 47-person firm will complement its positions in liquid chromatography and LC/mass spectrometry.

Biogen will pay $700 million to boost its stake from 5.4% to 49.9% in the biosimilar drug firm Samsung Bioepis. Bioepis was formed in 2012 by Biogen and Samsung Biologics under the condition that Biogen would have the option to increase its stake.

Bayer is teaming up with Broad Institute to launch the Precision Cardiology Laboratory to discover new ways of treating heart failure. Bayer will commit $22 million to the partnership, which will create single-cell resolution maps of cardiovascular tissue to aid drug discovery.