Dow has announced plans to expand its alkoxylation capacity in the US and Europe in 2024 and 2025. The investments are backed by supply agreements with customers and are being made to meet 10-15%/year growth in end markets including home and personal care, industrial and institutional cleaning, pharmaceuticals and crop protection.
Private equity firm Cinven has agreed to acquire Bayer’s Environmental Science Professional (ESP) business for €2.4 billion. The deal should close in Q2, subject to customary closing conditions. Bayer had originally announced plans to divest the business, which is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, in February 2021.
ESP offers pest, disease and weed control in non-agricultural areas such as vector control, professional pest management, vegetation management, forestry, turf and ornamentals. In 2021, it employed about 800 people in over 100 countries.
Mosaic and BioConsortia, which are both based in California, have entered into and agreement to develop and launch the latter’s nitrogen-fixing microbial products for all crops, including corn, wheat, rice, fruit and vegetables, in China, India, Thailand and Vietnam.
This follows a collaboration to develop these products for the Americas at the end of 2020 and successful field trials in the US and Canada. Fertiliser producer Mosaic already has sales channels in place in the region.
The US-based Green Chemistry division of the Minafin Group has formed a strategic partnership with Origin Materials of West Sacramento in California to industrialise speciality products based on Origin’s biobased, carbon-negative materials in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, cosmetics and personal care, and automotive industries. No further terms were disclosed.
Indian speciality chemicals and custom synthesis firm Anupam Rasayan has acquired 24.96% of Tanfac Industries from Birla Group Holdings and others for €17.3 million. It is also launching an open €18 million offer to acquire a further 26%, potentially giving it a majority stake, alongside Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation.
Italian CDMO Olon has reached a long-term strategic partnership for the manufacturing of the protein-based biocontrol products of Belgium’s Biotalys. This, the companies said, will secure the global supply of Biotalys’ first product, Evoca, a biofungicide that is planned for market introduction in the US in 2H 2022, subject to regulatory approval.
Croda has agreed to sell most of its Performance Technologies & Industrial Chemicals (PTIC) business to Cargill Velocity Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cargill in a €915 million deal should close in the summer of 2022, subject to regulatory approvals and consultation with employee representatives. The company had stated its intention to reviewing ownership options for PTIC in May 2021.
