Business Roundup

Enerkem, a waste-to-biofuels developer based in Montreal, has raised $223 million in a third round of funding to support new facilities. The funds include $100 million in a previously announced deal with China’s Sinobioway; the round also brought in BlackRock and existing investors.

Johnson Matthey is poised to settle a $70 million lawsuit relating to a coated substrate it supplied for use in engine emission after-treatment systems in the U.S. The undisclosed manufacturer bringing the case seeks costs for replacing or repairing parts of the engine emission system.

Solvay will spend about $7 million to expand sodium bicarbonate capacity at its plant in Rheinberg, Germany. The bicarb will be used in products that neutralize hydrochloric acid and sulfur oxides in industrial flue gas.

Kaneka’s aerospace arm has acquired Henkel’s benzoxazine-based composites business. Kaneka will combine the unit with a composites business, Applied Poleramic, that it acquired last year. Kaneka hopes to generate $200 million in annual aerospace composites sales by 2025.

Asahi Kasei is expanding its nylon 6,6 filament plant in Miyazaki, Japan, by 15% to 38,000 metric tons per year. The filaments are used in airbags and tire cord.

The Science History Institute is the new name for the Chemical Heritage Foundation and the Life Sciences Foundation. The two merged in 2015 with a mission to preserve historical documents and artifacts. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the institute has branches in Berkeley, Cal­if., and Paris.

Moderna Therapeutics, a biotech company developing mRNA-based therapies, raised $500 million in its latest funding round, giving it a reported $7.5 billion valuation. Newcomer investors in Moderna include the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Julius Baer Group, and Sequoia Capital China.

Pfizer has invested in NetVation DL Medicine, a biotech firm based in Chengdu, China. The two companies will screen new chemical entities against targets in several therapeutic areas. DL Medicine is backed by the Chinese firm HitGen and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.