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.

Finland’s Kemira has announced the completion of the first of a two-step capacity expansion in its water treatment chemicals production in the UK. The output of the aluminium-based product line in Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool, will be increased by more than 30,000 tonnes/year.

A second investment at Goole is currently under way and by September the firm expects to raise production of ferric-based water treatment chemicals by 100,000 tonnes/year. In all, Kemira makes over 350,000 tonnes/year of water treatment chemicals at these and two other UK sites at Bradford and Teesport. 

Speciality chemicals firm Vertellus has been acquired from Arsenal Capital Partners by another private equity firm, Pritzker Private Capital of Chicago. John Van Hulle, president and CEO of Vertellus, and other members of the management team are also investing and will continue to lead the business. Terms were not disclosed

ECHA has announced that all REACH registrations submitted by UK-based manufacturers, importers and only representatives that have not gone through all the steps required to complete the registration, both by the registrant and the agency by 31 December, will not be processed further. This date marks the end of the transition period for the UK’s departure from the EU.

DuPont’s board of directors has approved the separation of DuPont’s Nutrition & Biosciences (N&B) business through an exchange offer whereby stockholders can elect to tender DuPont shares for those of N&B on terms to be announced. This process is expected to be completed by 1 February.

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.

BASF has agreed to sell its manufacturing site in Kankakee, Illinois and the associated businesses of vegetable-oil-based raw material sterols and natural vitamin E, anionic surfactants and esters to private equity firm One Rock Capital Partners. Terms are not being disclosed. Subject to regulatory approval, this should be completed in 1H 2021.