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.

Karan Chechi of ChemAnalyst looks at why demand is growing for a key alternative to agrochemicals

Agrochemicals such as pesticides, fertilisers and plant growth enhancers have played a crucial role over the last century. They allowed agricultural productivity to keep up with population growth and saved billions from starvation.

Indian chlor-alkali producer Meghmani Finechem is to spend €21.6 million to expand into the chlorotoluene value chain at its site in Dahej, Gujarat. Due to be commissioned by Q4 2024, this will be the first plant in India to be back-integrated into toluene chlorination, and will produce pharmaceutical and agrochemical intermediates.

Mitsui Chemicals Agro, the agrochemicals subsidiary of Mitsui Chemicals, has agreed to acquire the agrochemicals business of its Japanese compatriot Meiji Seika Pharma. No financial details were disclosed, other than that the impact on total sales is expected to be minor.

The acquired business is based in Tokyo with a manufacturing subsidiary in Iwate and six branch offices, employing 110. It will be fully integrated into Mitsui Chemicals Agro. The company offers various formulations, including:

* Probenazole, the world’s first systemic acquired resistance type fungicide

According to unconfirmed reports, private equity firm Permira is considering exiting from its ownership in CABB after seven years and an auction may begin next year. The German-headquarters fine and speciality chemicals producer could raise about $1.2 billion, it is estimated.

Permira, which has about €44 billion in committed capital around the world, originally acquired CABB from Bridgepoint in 2014. Four years later, it bought Evonik Jayhawk Fine Chemicals, adding a US presence to the company.

Univar Solutions has reached an agreement to serve as Solvay’s first distribution partner for the agrochemical market in Brazil. This covers agrochemical defensives, adjuvants and fertilisers. It is the first time Solvay has named a distributor for this market in the country.

The WeylChem Group has announced that it is building the largest potassium-fluoride (KF)-based plant for halogen exchange (Halex) reactions in the Western world, at its Allessa site in Fechenheim Industrial Park in Frankfurt. This is the largest investment in Allessa since it was incorporated into WeylChem eight years ago. The project will take two years to complete.