Business Roundup

Versum Materials has rejected Merck KGaA’s takeover offer and is urging stockholders not to tender their shares to Merck. At the same time, Versum says it will engage in discussions with Merck and provide it with nonpublic information.

Eastman Chemical has acquired Sasol’s Marlotherm heat-transfer fluid business for an undisclosed sum. The purchase includes production facilities in Germany.

InChem has sold its facility in Duncan, South Carolina, to Joe Wilson, an InChem employee. InChem says it will continue to offer contract manufacturing services at its Rock Hill, South Carolina, site.

Lubrizol and CP Kelco will collaborate in the personal- and home-care markets. Lubrizol will use its formulation expertise to offer Kelco’s fermentation-derived cellulose liquid and diutan gum to those industries.

Crodarom, the French subsidiary of Croda, will expand its botanical extracts facility in France’s Occitanie region. The project will cost about $7.5 million and boost employment at the site by 30, to about 100 employees.

Vantage Specialty Chemicals has acquired Textron Plimon’s natural plant oils business, including a new facility in Granollers, Spain. Vantage says the purchase expands its natural oils business beyond jojoba.

Elicio Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Massachusetts–based start-up, has raised $30 million to develop amphiphilic tags that can be appended to cancer immunotherapies. The tags help the drugs hitchhike on albumin proteins in the blood for delivery to lymph nodes.

Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals has secured $22.5 million in its first formal round of financing. The Swiss firm will use the proceeds to conduct a Phase I study of its lead drug candidate, PN-1007, an injectable, biodegradable glycopolymer for the treatment of a nervous system disease called anti-MAG neuropathy.