Bachem has signed a new framework agreement to provide large volumes of peptides to an unnamed customer following a joint development project. This covers “a committed volume at an equivalent value of over CHF 500 million for the five-year period of 2027-2031, with significant upside potential,” the company said.

This follows recent deals a previous large-volume contract for another unnamed customer worth CHF 175 million in 2023-4. The deal was announced in September 2022 and subsequently upgraded with a further work order for a minimum total of CHF 1 billion from 2025 to 2029.

Cabot has announced plans for a new technology centre in Münster, Germany, which will focus on technical collaboration with customers on its battery material product lines for electric vehicles (EVs). This is due to begin operations by April 2023, with a planned expansion to be completed in 2024.

SK Capital subsidiary Archroma has closed the acquisition of the Singapore-based Huntsman Textile Effects business. Described as a merger of equals, this will create a company over 5,000 employees in 42 countries and 35 production sites. Archroma also announced a split into two operating divisions, each focused on a separate end market.

BASF is to invest in a new citral plant at its verbund site in Zhanjiang, China. This will bring its global capacity to 118,000 tonnes/year when it comes onstream in 2026 onwards. The company is also expanding its downstream menthol and linalool plants at Ludwigshafen. This all comes in response to growing demand for aroma ingredients in the flavours and fragrances markets.

The Airedale Group has acquired McCann Chemicals, including its Hunter Chemicals and McCann Food & Nutrition subsidiaries. Both firms are UK-based. This is Airedale’s third acquisition since 2015. McCann Chemicals, which is 50 years old this year, will continue to operate independently.

Czech-based specialty chemicals company Draslovka has reached an agreement to roll out a global testing and implementation programme for GlyCat, its glycine-based gold-leaching product, in several of the mines run by Barrick Gold. This is the first such trial and could lead to a global rollout.

According to Draslovska, using GlyCat, a non-toxic, food-grade and recyclable reagent, “can potentially unlock substantive savings and generate value for Barrick’s operations, while improving environmental footprint”. Depending on the ore, these could include:

The merger between speciality chemicals distribution firms Caldic and Connell has been closed, creating a new global player with sales of €3 billion/year, 3,500 FTE employees and a presence in 43 countries. It will be mainly active in the food, (bio)pharma, personal care and industrial formulations markets.

“The strong regional presence of Connell helps Caldic to create a unique global growth platform with substantial footholds in two high-growth regions, in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, following the merger with GTM last year,” Caldic said.