Business Roundup

SI Group has agreed to sell its industrial resin business to ASK Chemicals, a producer of foundry materials. The purchase includes plants in Brazil, South Africa, and India. SI is retaining its US and Chinese businesses.

ExxonMobil and Sabic say their joint venture near Corpus Christi, Texas, has completed two polyethylene units and an ethylene glycol plant and expect to open them by year’s end, ahead of schedule. The firms forecast that the price tag for the project, which includes an ethylene cracker, will be 25% less than that for similar projects on the US Gulf Coast.

Monument Chemical has acquired KMTEX, a contract producer of specialty chemicals in Port Arthur, Texas. Monument was formed in 2008 with the purchase of the Dow Haltermann contract production site in Houston.

Clariant has doubled its output of emission control catalysts in Heufeld, Germany. The catalysts remove volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, and ammonia from sources such as chemical plants, engines, and turbines.

Orion Engineered Carbons is partnering with RISE Research Institutes of Sweden to produce renewable carbon black derived from biomass oil. Orion will make the product, used as a reinforcement in tires, in Kalscheuren, Germany.

Catalent is launching a $100 million project at its facility in Anagni, Italy, to add biologic drug active production. The firm will install two 2,000 L single-use bioreactors with infrastructure to support production of drugs for early-phase clinical trials.

PerkinElmer has agreed to buy San Diego–based BioLegend, which supplies antibodies and reagents for life sciences research, for $5.25 billion. The purchase will be the largest in PerkinElmer’s history, the company says.

Celanese has opened a drug delivery feasibility lab at its R&D center in Florence, Kentucky. The firm makes products including ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers for drug-eluting implants.