Japan's Kao Corporation is to double capacity for the synthetic fragrance methyl dihydrojasmonate (MDJ) at its site in Olesa, Spain, by adding a second production facility. MDJ is used to give a jasmine fragrance to a wide range of consumer products and Kao is already the leader in the 20,000 tonnes/year European market, which is projected to grow at 4% year.
Edgewater Capital Partners, a lower middle-market private equity firm which has made previous investments in life Sciences and pharma services, has acquired GL Chemtec of Oakville, Ontario, a CRO which offers chemistry R&D and scale-up services to support API development, plus advanced materials for drug delivery, medical devices and other life science applications. No financial details were disclosed.
Altana and Covestro have separately made exits from the 3D printing market, in each case selling to a specialist in the field. The former has sold its stake in 3D printing systems manufacturer DP Polar to 3D Systems, while the latter is to sell its Additive Manufacturing business to Stratasys.
The former Synalloy has changed its name to Ascent Industries with effect from 10 August. As a consequence, the company’s chemical division, which combines multiple speciality chemical manufacturers in the US, is also rebranding to Ascent Chemicals. All of the former company names and designations - Synalloy Chemicals, CRI Tolling, DanChem, DTI and Manufacturers Chemicals - are now being retired as they are united under a single brand.
As had been widely anticipated, SK Capital Partners operation Archroma has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Singapore-based Textile Effects business of Huntsman. Closing is expected to take place in 1H 2023, subject to customary conditions and regulatory approval. Textile Effects had sales of $772 million and adjusted EBITDA of $94 million in the last financial year.
Airedale Group of the UK has announced that it is implementing a series of investment projects totalling more than £2 million, including new plant installations and planned acquisitions. Some newly created roles and additions to the company’s fleet of vehicles are also in the pipeline. This is all part of its new ten-year growth plan and commitment to increasing the use of technology in the business.
Livent has signed a sourcing agreement, under which it will supply General Motors (GM) with battery-grade lithium hydroxide for six years from 2025. GM intends to use this in its battery cathodes, which will power electric vehicles such as the recently revealed Chevrolet Blazer EV (pictured), Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq.
