NEWS
IN BRIEF
Evonik adds segment Evonik is establishing a new business segment named Botanicals & Natural Actives within the Nutrition & Care division . This brings together the recently acquired firms Novachem , Alkion Biopharma , Botanic and Wilshire with Evonik ’ s legacy Tego business to meet demand for botanical extracts and natural actives .
Taurate expansion Vantage Specialty Chemicals is tripling capacity for its Metaupon NMT band of naturally derived taurates at Leuna , Germany . The first phase was completed in September 2022 , with the second expected to come online in early 2025 . Vantage said that this is being done to meet demand for mild , sulphate-free surfactants in the personal care market
Symrise in Indian JV Under a new joint venture deal , Symrise will make some of its personal care ingredients using the synthetic chemistry capabilities of India ’ s Virchow Group . Vizag Care Ingredients , in which Symrise owns a majority , has a manufacturing site at Visakhapatnam , enabling it to back-integrate into raw materials and form a resilient global value chain . Symrise will market the resulting products .
Carbon-neutral deal Univar Solutions has executed a Letter of Intent to offer highgrade , carbon-neutral speciality chemicals from a facility to be established by Clear Shift in Louisiana . Dallas-based ClearShift specialises in gas-to-liquids technology , carbon-neutral speciality chemicals and lowcarbon fuels . These are expected to come online in 2027 .
Clariant completes buy
Clariant has completed the previously announced acquisition of Lucas Meyer Cosmetics , a Germanbased maker of cosmetics and personal care ingredients , from IFF . The deal is based on an enterprise value of $ 810 million , subject to customary net debt and working capital adjustments .
Clariant said that this continues its move toward “ high-growth , high-margin and highly cashgenerative speciality chemicals businesses and consumer end-markets , underpinned by accelerating demand for natural and sustainable products ”. It added
that there is a complementarity between the two firms in customer and product portfolio , regional strongholds and capabilities in R & D , and marketing .
Lucas Meyer has been consolidated into Clariant ’ s Care Chemicals business unit , which is projected to grow from sales of $ 100 million / year now to $ 180 million / year . The deal was funded by issuing a dual-tranche senior unsecured bond for about $ 384 million over seven years . Clariant expects no change to its investment-grade credit rating after closing .
Noramco forms supply chain body
Noramco , an API supplier specialised in controlled substances , has launched Noramco Group , which it describes as a “ comprehensive North American-based supply chain solution ” for clinical and commercial APIs and drug product , including small-scale high potency . Noramco Group unites the capabilities of three subsidiaries within a single sales team :
• Delaware-based Noramco itself , which supplies APIs for both branded and generic drugs that are used in over 350 products
• Purisys , a Georgia-based supplier of CDMO services and pharmaceutical reference standards , with specialised capabilities in controlled substance APIs , notably psychedelics
• Halo Pharma , a drug product CDMO acquired from Cambrex in November 2023 that makes many different finished dosage forms from sites in Whippany , New Jersey , and Montreal , Quebec The company said that in doing this it is taking a “ pivotal step ” to address escalating drug shortages in the US and quality concerns that are disrupting patient access . This is largely driven by lack of reliable foreign supply , limited domestic manufacturing capacity and logistical bottlenecks .
“ The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical vulnerabilities in our drug supply chain ,” said Noramco CEO Leo Karras . “ Government responses , while well-intentioned , proved to be somewhat superficial , leaving the threat of future disruptions unaddressed . The formation of the Noramco Group is our proactive solution to some of these challenges .”
Noramco claimed that aligning these companies could “ reduce overall complexity in industry processes , minimise logistics costs and improve regulatory compliance ”. Companies working with new chemical entities will also get IP protection with a known domestic source , the company said .
12 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981