Business Concentrates
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
INORGANIC CHEMICALS
▸ OpenGate to acquire
zinc chemicals business
The private equity firm OpenGate Capi-
tal has agreed to acquire Umicore’s zinc
chemicals business in a deal that values the
operation at about $160 million. With facil-
ities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway,
China, and Malaysia, Umicore Zinc Chem-
icals produces fine zinc powders, zinc
oxide, and zinc for batteries. It has annual
sales of more than $450 million. OpenGate
already owns the polyvinyl chloride maker
Kem One and several PVC building product
businesses.—MICHAEL MCCOY
LATIN AMERICA
▸ Bolivia will get
first polymer plant
Bolivian state oil company YPFB will
use LyondellBasell Industries’ Spheripol
polypropylene technology to build what
is being called Bolivia’s first polymer
plant. YPFB plans to spend $1.8 billion on
a propane dehydrogenation facility and a
polypropylene plant that will have annu-
al capacity of 250,000 metric tons. The
propane will be fractionated from locally
sourced natural gas. YPFB plans to start
construction on the project next year and
complete it by the end of 2021.—ALEX
TULLO
PETROCHEMICALS
▸ SABIC considers
Chinese project
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC)
and China’s Shenhua Ningxia Coal In-
dustry Group will study construction of a
coal-to-chemicals plant in China’s Ningxia
Hui coal-producing region. The companies
plan to assess the project for three years
and submit an application to the govern-
ment. China has 5 million metric tons per
year of coal-to-olefins capacity, according
to the consulting firm IHS Chemical;
another 15 million metric tons are being
planned. SABIC says it hopes to diversify
feedstocks away from Saudi natural gas and
become closer to Chinese customers.—
ALEX TULLO
14 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JUNE 6, 2016
Dow completes purchase
of Dow Corning
In a prelude to the merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont, Dow has completed
the acquisition of the 50% of Dow Corning it didn’t own from partner Corn-
ing. Dow is now 100% owner of Dow Corning’s silicones business, which
had sales last year of more than $4.5 billion. It’s also part-owner of Hemlock
Semiconductor, a polysilicon producer in which Dow Corning was the ma-
jority shareholder. Corning maintains its interest in Hemlock. Folding Dow
Corning completely into Dow will yield a minimum of $400 million in annual
cost synergies, Dow CEO Andrew N. Liveris predicts, up from the $300 mil-
lion estimate Dow made when the purchase was announced in December. The
merger between Dow and DuPont is now undergoing regulatory review. The
companies have said they expect it to be complete later this year, after which
the merged firm will split into three new companies. Dow Corning is intended
to become part of the materials science company.—MICHAEL MCCOY
POLYMERS Ube already manufactures organometallics
for semiconductors found in light-emitting
▸ Covestro’s on diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes. Demand is
strong in Japan and other Asian countries for
the (soccer) ball high-luminosity white LEDs, Ube claims.—
JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
Polyurethane from Covestro is behind the
new, high-performance Adidas Beau Jeu
ball to be used in Europe’s ENERGY STORAGE
Euro 2016 soccer champi-
onship, set to kick off ▸ Stem attracts
in France in the next
few days. The ball’s
funds for battery
outer shell is made
up of five layers
systems
of Covestro’s
Impranil brand Energy storage firm Stem has
polyurethane, raised $68 million in a third
which Covestro round of funding from Mitsui &
claims gives better Co.; Mithril Capital Management,
grip, ball control, and the investment fund of PayPal
flight stability than founder Peter Thiel; and others. Stem
the Brazuca ball used The Beau Jeu ball has installed grid-integrated lithium-ion
in the 2014 soccer has five layers of battery systems for 440 businesses in Cal-
World Cup.—ALEX polyurethane. ifornia and Hawaii. The systems include
SCOTT so-called smart software that learns a cus-
tomer’s energy profile, enabling it to switch
between grid and stored energy to reduce
MATERIALS costs. The systems can also sell energy back
to the grid.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
▸ Ube buys rights to
trimethylindium BIOFUELS
Japan’s Ube Industries has acquired from ▸ Gevo considers
CREDIT: COVESTRO
Dow Chemical patents related to the man-
ufacture of trimethylindium, an organo-
selling itself
metallic used to make compound semi-
conductors. Ube also bought a license for Gevo, a maker of biobased isobutyl alcohol,
making trimethylindium filling containers. says it is considering selling itself while it
 continues to develop its fermentation tech-
nology. The firm has experienced delays and
difficulties scaling up its facility in Luverne,
Minn., where it produces isobutyl alcohol
and ethanol, both from corn. Last month,
Gevo said it would work with Clariant to
scale up a different technology: a mixed met-
al oxide catalyst that can convert ethanol
into olefins.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMICALS
▸ Carbogen expands
in Switzerland
Drug chemical manufacturer Carbogen
Amcis is adding to its operations in Buben-
dorf, Switzerland. There the company has
agreed to acquire a GEA Pharma Systems
site close to its current
headquarters. The GEA’s Bubendorf
3,360-m2 multistory facility, soon
building includes lab, to be owned by
small-scale produc- Carbogen.
tion, storage, and office space. Carbogen
intends to convert more of the facility into
regulatory compliant operations for highly
potent compound development. The com-
pany also plans to add manufacturing of an-
tibody-drug conjugates.—ANN THAYER
DRUG DEVELOPMENT
▸ Iceni to repurpose
Merck’s cilengitide
Scottish DNA vaccines developer BigDNA
has renamed itself Iceni Pharmaceuticals
and relaunched to focus on repurposed
cancer therapies. The firm’s lead candidate
is cilengitide, a cyclic peptide. Cilengitide
was initially developed by the Technical
University of Munich and Merck KGaA, but
it failed late-stage clinical trials for treating
glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.
Iceni has demonstrated in preclinical trials
that cilengitide is effective in a combination
therapy for treating myeloma, a bone cancer.
Iceni plans to begin Phase II trials in 2017.—
ALEX SCOTT
GENERICS
▸ Sun Pharma gets
U.S. subpoena
The Indian generic drug maker Sun Phar-
maceutical Industries is the latest drug
company to receive an inquiry on pricing
from U.S. authorities. Sun Pharma says its
U.S. subsidiary received a grand jury sub-
poena from the Department of Justice’s
antitrust division seeking information on
generic drug pricing and communications
with competitors and others on the sale of
generics. The probe comes as Congress is
pressuring regulators to investigate rising
generic drug prices. Other generic drug
makers including Dr. Reddy’s Laborato-
ries, Allergan, and Par Pharmaceutical
received subpoenas last year.—MARC
REISCH
INVESTMENT
▸ Novartis and Akzo
grow R&D in China
Novartis has inaugurated new R&D build-
ings and labs in Shanghai. The expansion
of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical
Research in Shanghai will provide space
for as many as 1,300 scientists, up from
500 previously. Research at the center
focuses on infections that lead to cancer
in Asian patients. In addition, scientists at
the center perform discovery chemistry
and biomarker research. Separately, Ak-
zoNobel opened its largest R&D center in
China, also in Shanghai. The Dutch firm
invested more than $7 million in the facil-
ity, which employs 150 scientists focusing
on coatings and specialty chemicals.—
JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY

Business Roundup ChemDiv says it will draw on

▸ Lubrizol has named Eric R.
Schnur, currently chief oper-
ating officer, as its president,
effective immediately. Schnur
will become chairman and
CEO on Jan. 2, 2017, replacing
James L. Hambrick, who has
been with Lubrizol for 38
years, the last 14 as CEO.
▸ Siluria Technologies,
which is developing the cata-
lytic conversion of methane
into ethylene, has received a
$10 million investment from
Italian engineering company
CREDIT: CARBOGEN
also have forged a technical
collaboration.
▸ Licella Fibre Fuels and
Canfor Pulp Products will
form a joint venture to investi-
gate installing Licella’s catalyt-
ic hydrothermal reactor tech-
nology at Canfor’s Canadian
pulp facilities to convert bio-
mass into a biocrude oil. The
oil could be further processed
into fuels and chemicals.
▸ ChemDiv, a contract
research firm based in San
its commercial collection of
more than 1.6 million druglike
small molecules.
▸ BioMarin has withdrawn its
application for the Duchenne
muscular dystrophy drug
drisapersen in Europe after
negative feedback from Euro-
pean authorities. FDA reject-
ed the oligonucleotide drug in
January.
▸ AC Immune, a Swiss bio-
tech firm developing Alzhei-
mer’s disease treatments, has
filed for an initial public offer-
ing of stock worth up to $50
▸ Pfizer and BioRap Tech-
nologies will collaborate in
the autoimmune disease area
to develop an antibody that
binds with a specific immune
checkpoint molecule to drive
regulatory T cells. BioRap
is the technology transfer
arm of the Rappaport Family
Institute for Research in the
Medical Sciences at Tech-
nion—Israel Institute of
Technology.
▸ TwoXar and the University
of Chicago’s department of
medicine will collaborate
on identifying new drugs for
treating atherosclerosis. Palo

Maire Tecnimont, bringing Diego, will provide chem- million. AC Immune has drug Alto, Calif.-based TwoXar
the total that Siluria has istry-based drug discovery development partnerships will use its drug discovery
raised since November to $40 services to Cystic Fibrosis with Johnson & Johnson and software to predict drug can-
million. The two companies Foundation Therapeutics. Genentech. didates for in vivo testing.

JUNE 6, 2016 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 15