Shareholders approved the merger, first announced in February, between Origin Materials and special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Artius Acquisition on 24 June. As a result, Origin shares are now listed on the Nasdaq. Eight days before this, Apollo Global Management had agreed to invest up to $30 million in Artius in support of the combination and a further 3 million shares on closing of the transaction.
AlzChem, the only supplier of speciality nitriles outside China, has completed a €12 million expansion that took 15 months and will increase capacity by 50%. This is particularly targeted at the pharmaceutical and agrochemical markets and is expected to lead to additional sales of €10-20 million/year, depending on the product mix.
Johnson Matthey, Thomas Swan and the UK’s Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) have teamed up in the ICE-Batt project. This seeks how to optimise battery technology by using innovative forms of carbon to overcome some of the limitations of lithium-ion batteries, including energy density, power density and low temperature performance.
Evonik has agreed to buy Infinitec Activos, which is based at Montornés del Vallès near Barcelona supplies delivery systems for cosmetic active ingredients, including its Cosmetic Drone proprietary technology and its new polylactic-co-glycolic acid-based delivery system. The natural-based raw material producer, Naturethic, is also part of the deal.
Mitsui Chemicals has announced that its Y1,830/share tender offer for the common stock of its Japanese compatriot, Honshu Chemical Industry, was completed on 11 June. The company had originally announced its intention to buy most of Honshu Chemical eight months previously.
Clariant has agreed to sell 80% of its Pigments business to a consortium made up of German pigments specialist Heubach Group and private investment firm SK Capital Partners, which owns many other chemical industry operations. This should close in 1H 2022.
According to an analysis by CEFIC of data reported through the EU’s Safety Gate, 2020 saw a steep increase in imports of hand sanitisers that were not compliant with the EU chemicals safety rules. These were either not marked as flammable or containing methanol, as required by EU Classification & Labelling rules, or had insufficient ethanol to kill viruses, as required by the Biocides Regulation, CEFIC noted.
