International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) has agreed to buy Clariant’s decommissioned bioethanol plant in Podari, Romania, for its biotech CDMO subsidiary Corden BioChem. No financial details were disclosed, but ICIG will rehire “a large proportion” of the laid-off employees and spend a double-digit million Euro sum, mainly in downstream operations, to make the site a flexible CMO.

Clariant has agreed a deal to source ethylene with a lower carbon footprint from Austrian petrochemicals firm OMV. This, the company said, comes in response to increasing consumer demand for more sustainable options and will help both it and OMV to meet their sustainability targets.

Clariant has been offering segregated biobased ethoxylates through its Indian operation since 2022. It now wishes to extend this to the wider ethylene oxide derivatives portfolio while also strengthening the supply chain by producing “in Europe, for Europe”.

Clariant has completed the previously announced acquisition of Lucas Meyer Cosmetics, a German-based maker of cosmetics and personal care ingredients, from IFF. The deal is based on an enterprise value of $810 million, subject to customary net debt and working capital adjustments.

Clariant has decided to close its Sunliquid bioethanol plant in Podari, Romania. This followed a review that concluded that the economics of the plant could not justify the additional capital expenditure needed to continue the ramp-up.

The company will also downsize the related activities of the Biofuels & Derivatives business line at three sits in Germany. The required capabilities to maintain the technology and to fulfil existing contractual obligations will be kept.

Clariant has agreed to acquire Lucas Meyer Cosmetics of Québec, Canada, a supplier of cosmetics and personal care ingredients from International Flavours & Fragrances. The $810 million, 16.3 x EBITDA deal is expected to close in Q1 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Clariant is to invest CHF 80 million to expand its Care Chemicals facility at Daya Bay in Huizhou, China, by the end of 2024. This will both add capacity for existing products and introduce new products in the pharmaceutical, personal care, home care and industrial sector.

Daya Bay, which has obtained the drug GMP certificate, is the first API site in China certified to produce polyethylene glycol Polyglykol 3350. More generally, it will become new global hub for Clariant’s healthcare business support.

Following a financial assessment of the plant as part of the annual impairment testing in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, Clariant is to take an impairment of about CHF 225 million to the current asset value of its recently opened Sunliquid plant in Podari, Romania.