Business Roundup

Chemizon, a South Korean contract research firm, has taken a stake in Crown Bioscience, a company that claims to be one of China's largest biology contract research organizations. As part of their closer association, Chemizon and Crown aim to offer a more integrated range of drug discovery services to clients.

Huber Engineered Materials has sold its kaolin business to IMin Partners for an undisclosed sum. The business is being renamed KaMin. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, IMin is a private equity fund dedicated to specialty mineral and chemical businesses.

Emerald Performance Products' Hilton Davis subsidiary has acquired Wolstenholme International's carbon black dispersions business, including a plant in West Chicago, Ill. Emerald, formerly part of Lubrizol, is owned by the investment firm Sun Capital Partners.

Israel Chemicals is planning several fertilizer expansions to meet rising worldwide demand. The company plans new production capacity for phosphate rock, phosphoric acid, phosphate fertilizers, and potash. Its facilities are in Israel, Spain, and the U.K.

H.B. Fuller will establish a regional laboratory in Shanghai. The adhesives and sealants company says the lab will focus on reactive chemistry and help it develop products for markets such as windows, flooring, and footwear. Fuller expects the lab to open later this year.

Sasol-Huntsman, a maleic anhydride joint venture, plans to expand the capacity of its Moers, Germany, plant by 75% to 105,000 metric tons per year by early 2011. Huntsman Corp. is engaged in a similar 45,000-metric-ton expansion at its Geismar, La., maleic anhydride plant.

Shell has launched a joint R&D effort with Virent Energy Systems to convert plant sugars directly into gasoline and gasoline components, rather than ethanol. Madison, Wis.-based Virent says its BioForming technology uses catalysts to convert sugars into hydrocarbon molecules that have higher energy content than ethanol or butanol.

Archimica is expanding capacity in Frankfurt, Germany, and Bon Encontre, France, for cryogenic production of boronic acids. Through the expansions, the company will be able to offer low-temperature chemistry from the pilot plant up to large commercial scale at its operations in Italy, France, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S.

Teva Pharmaceuticals will buy Bentley Pharmaceuticals' generic drugs business for about $369 million following Bentley's spin-off of its drug delivery business to shareholders. The acquisition is intended to strengthen Teva's position in Spain, where Bentley has several drug-making subsidiaries.

Azopharma Product Development Group is adding 17 new manufacturing suites at its Miramar and Hollywood, Fla., sites, including suites for cytotoxic and potent compounds. Azopharma says it will operate 29 suites dedicated to manufacturing products for pharmaceutical clinical trials.