Business Roundup

Arkema has paid almost $80 million for its partner’s stake in Taixing Sunke Chemical, a joint venture in China that makes acrylic monomers. The transaction marks an about-face for Arkema, which 2 years ago rejected an option to increase its stake in Taixing because of unfavorable market conditions.

PureCycle Technologies says it has successfully turned discarded carpet into high-purity polypropylene at its facility in Hanging Rock, Ohio. The firm, which uses technology developed by Procter & Gamble, expects to open a commercial polypropylene recycling plant in 2021.

Solvay has formed a joint venture with Aqua Pharma aimed at controlling sea lice and amoebic gill disease at commercial salmon farms. Solvay makes a hydrogen peroxide–based treatment for fish parasitic diseases; Aqua Pharma makes hydrogen peroxide dosing equipment.

Ineos plans to close its acrylonitrile plant in Seal Sands, England, which employs 224 people. The firm says it has put roughly $200 million into the site over 10 years but that an equal amount of investment would be needed to ensure that it is both safe and economically viable.

DuPont will collaborate with the Chinese health-care company By-Health on R&D for probiotic dietary supplements. The firms will study intestinal microbiology and use their insights to develop supplements with new functions.

JSR and PeptiDream will jointly develop new peptide ligands used in chromatography media for separating biopharmaceuticals. The pact combines JSR’s affinity separation skills with PeptiDream’s peptide discovery platform.

Bayer and the drug discovery firm Arvinas have officially launched Oerth Bio, a joint venture that will use Arvinas’s expertise in protein degradation in agricultural applications. Bayer previously announced a $55 million commitment to the venture.

STipe Therapeutics, a spin-off of Aarhus University, raised nearly $22 million in its series A financing round. STipe is developing compounds that stimulate the STING pathway to boost the ability of the innate immune system to fight cancer.