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Brenntag into Israel

Brenntag has entered the Israeli market by acquiring distributor Y.S. Ashkenazi Agencies and its subsidiary Biochem Trading. The firm is the said to be the national market leader in personal care, and food and nutrition as well as one of the largest speciality chemical distributors. Terms were not disclosed and the deal has already been completed.

Libra boosts salt-free betaines

Libra Speciality Chemicals of Irlam, UK, which makes and blends active ingredients for home and personal care, has invested £3.5 million in a new plant to manufacture the new low-salt betaines it has developed. This will also increases the site’s total betaine capacity by around two thirds and double the firm’s size.

Elementis rejected Innospec offer

Following press speculation, it has been confirmed that Innospec made an offer to acquire Elementis for £1.60/share on 31 March and that this was rejected on 9 April. Innospec is no longer pursuing the matter.

Elementis said that its board, together with its management and advisers, assessed the offer against its own valuation framework concluded that it “fell meaningfully short of the value creation potential” of the current strategy, particularly in view of “the strong momentum in the business” after a strong start to the year. They therefore unanimously rejected it.

Azelis buys in Vietnam

Azelis has acquired a majority stake in two Vietnamese firms, MKVN Chemicals and Viet Chemicals, via their parent company Bellekimia Singapore. This continues a recent spree of acquisitions and investments in Asia for the global distributor.

Both companies were founded in 2000 and have offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. They are active in personal care, industrial chemicals, agrochemicals and food, with about 700 customers. They also have personal care laboratories.

Further funding for SurfactGreen

French bio-based surfactants firm SurfactGreen has received €4.7 million in investment, with €3.1 million in grants and repayable advances from ADEME and Bpifrance and €1.6 million in capital from its shareholders. This will enable it to double the workforce to 24, start international sales and accelerate the commercialisation of its products, the firm said.

Nippon Shokubai works with Summit

Nippon Shokubai and its Japanese compatriot Summit Cosmetics, a subsidiary of Sumitomo, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint development and sales of next-generation personal care ingredient fields. Both are initially investigating new film forming agents and thickeners, including biopolymers.

Croda has acquired Iberchem

Croda International has acquired Spanish-based flavours and fragrances (F&F) firm Iberchem from Eurazeo in a €820 million deal. This takes the company into F&F for the first time. It will be funded by existing debt facilities and a £600 equity placing, representing about 8% of Croda’s issued share capital.

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