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Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals - 1998

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Genosys, the Cambridge-based gene discovery company, has been sold to Sigma-Aldrich for £24m.
30-Dec-1998


Laporte is to sell its hygiene chemicals division to management for £31m, which means its disposals programme is nearly complete.
24-Dec-1998


Organon of the Netherlands is to open a laboratory in Newhouse, Lanarkshire, to develop treatments for diseases of the central nervous system, creating 60 jobs.
11-Dec-1998


Bimeda, part of the Dublin-based Cross Vetpharm group, is to set up a £3.6m veterinary products manufacturing plant and distribution depot on Anglesey, creating 72 jobs.
10-Dec-1998


ICI's Quest International subsidiary is selling its Natural Colours operation in Ireland to Christian Hansen of Denmark for £33m.
10-Dec-1998


Zeneca is to merge with Astra of Sweden in a £21bn deal, and the new group will have a London headquarters with the main R&D centre being in Sweden.
10-Dec-1998


Ascot is acquiring Haltermann, the German provider of chemical processing services, for £90m.
09-Dec-1998


BOC has agreed the sale of its German and Benelux gases operations to Air Liquide of France for £112m.
27-Nov-1998


ICI is selling its Teesside utilities business, which provides support services to companies operating at Wilton, to Enron of the US for £300m.
27-Nov-1998


Brenntag has acquired Midlands-based chemical distributor Farleyway, as part of a plan to build up a £100m chemical distribution business in the UK.
26-Nov-1998


Wella of Germany has bought the Bath Luxuries division of Yardley from the receivers for undisclosed terms.
24-Nov-1998


Scotia Holdings has sold its Efamol nutrition business to Nutricia for £16m, and has also announced plans to restructure its Canadian research facilities in order to save about £1m a year.
17-Nov-1998


Peptide Therapeutics is planning to acquire OraVax, the US developer of vaccines, for £9m.
12-Nov-1998


Ciba and Clariant, the Swiss speciality chemical companies, are planning to merge, which could result in job losses among the 5,200 staff the two companies employ in the UK.
10-Nov-1998


BP is to spend £500m upgrading its UK petrochemical operations, and 225 jobs will be created at new plants in Grangemouth and Hull.
10-Nov-1998


Astra Charnwood is planning to build a new pharmaceutical laboratory in Loughborough, and up to 100 jobs will be created over the next three years.
09-Nov-1998


Albemarle of the US has acquired BTP's oilfield chemicals business and the manufacturing site at Teesport for £8.4m.
03-Nov-1998


Laporte has sold its US mining chemicals business to Henkel of Germany for £10m, and more disposals are expected to follow as it aims to focus on life science and niche industrial products.
30-Oct-1998


Ato Findley UK has bought Cementone, the building chemicals division of the Philip Johnstone Group, for an undisclosed sum and the business will be merged with Stafford-based Evode.
28-Oct-1998


W Canning, the Birmingham-based chemicals company, is being acquired by MacDermid of the US for £89m.
27-Oct-1998


Ethical Holdings of Ely has been rescued in a £10m deal that will give Elan Corporation control of the company.
26-Oct-1998


W Canning has sold Levenit Chemical, its Italian lubricants business, to Houghton Europe of the US for £5.7m.
23-Oct-1998


McBride is acquiring Globol, the manufacturer of home fragrancing products, for £7.3m.
22-Oct-1998


Zeneca is planning to expand its pharmaceutical headquarters in Alderley Park, Cheshire, with the creation of up to 300 jobs.
16-Oct-1998


Brent International is selling its imaging business to Weir Holdings for £17m, in order to focus on surface coatings.
13-Oct-1998


Quadrant Healthcare has acquired Andaris Group, the private drug delivery company, in a £13m deal.
03-Oct-1998


Pfizer, the US healthcare company, is planning to set up a European headquarters in Reigate which will employ 900 people.
03-Oct-1998


Zeneca is to invest £50m in the development of new wheat varieties in collaboration with the John Innes Centre, and a new laboratory will be set up in Norwich.
17-Sep-1998


English China Clays has acquired Minco, the US fused silica and magnesia producer, for $28m.
15-Sep-1998


Hammerite, the Northumberland-based paints maker, is to create a further 40 jobs over the next 12 months to cope with rising sales.
15-Sep-1998


The Technology Partnership is planning to build a £5m office and laboratory complex at the Melbourn Science Park in South Cambridgeshire, and is recruiting a further 60 people this year.
14-Sep-1998


British Vita is to acquire Doeflex, the industrial plastics company, for £66m, as part of a strategy to equalise the sales of its three divisions - foams, industrial polymers, and fibres and fabrics.
08-Sep-1998


Quintiles Transnational Corporation has acquired Royce Consultancy, the Edinburgh-based pharmaceutical sales recruitment and contract organisation, for undisclosed terms.
25-Aug-1998


Zeneca is building a £2m pilot fermentation plant at its Billingham site that will act as trouble-shooting facility in the manufacture of drugs.
25-Aug-1998


Medeva is to sell its International Medication Systems manufacturing facility in California to Amphastar Pharmaceuticals of the US for £3.6m.
20-Aug-1998


Hexagen, the UK biotech concern, is to be acquired by Incyte Pharmaceuticals of the US for £25m in order to create a major force in the genomics sector.
18-Aug-1998


Amersham Pharmacia Biotech is acquiring Molecular Dynamics, its US partner, for £160m, in order to help it compete in the development of DNA sequencing and genomics.
11-Aug-1998


Laporte is to acquire Inspec, the speciality chemicals business, for about £611m, thereby creating a leading European supplier to the pharmaceutical, agrochemicals and life sciences sectors.
06-Aug-1998


Croda International has acquired Westbrook, the manufacturer of lanolin and its derivatives, for £10.6m.
04-Aug-1998


Amberley Group is acquiring DS, the Sweden-based supplier of chemicals to the German printing industry, for up to £12m.
30-Jul-1998


Scotia is to set up a £2.5m manufacturing facility at its site on the island of Lewis, Scotland, to make Foscan, its anti-cancer drug.
29-Jul-1998


ICI is planning to sell its US tioxide operations to NL Industries for £150m, while ICI's former tioxide plant at Grimsby is being sold by DuPont to NL.
25-Jul-1998


Akzo Nobel is buying out the Elementis share of their Akros Chemicals joint venture for £66m, and Elementis will use the proceeds to cut borrowings.
17-Jul-1998


Ellis & Everard is acquiring Performance Polymers, the US polymer distributor, for £7.8m, as part of a strategy to reduce its dependence on the more cyclical commodity chemicals sector.
14-Jul-1998


BTP has acquired Bactria Biocides from Revertex Chemicals for £6m, and will integrate the business with its Nipa Laboratories fine chemicals division.
10-Jul-1998


Sutcliffe Speakman has bought Aegis Trading, the manufacturer and distributor of flame retardants, smoke suppressants and colour dispersions, for £3.2m.
08-Jul-1998


BTP is acquiring Archimica, the Italian fine chemicals company, for £100m, which will enable it to move into higher-value manufacturing of final ingredients for the pharmaceutical sector.
07-Jul-1998


British Vita is acquiring Hyperlast, the polyurethane business, for £35m, in order to strengthen its industrial compounds division.
19-Jun-1998


Akzo Nobel of the Netherlands is set to go-ahead with its £1.83bn takeover of Courtaulds, having agreed to sell two of Courtaulds smaller coatings businesses to the rival bidder PPG Industries of the US.
03-Jun-1998


BTP is to acquire Hexachimie, the French fine chemicals business, from Bristol-Myers Squibb of the US for £53m, in order to improve its position in the manufacture of chemicals for use in the drug and agrochemicals sector.
27-May-1998


Sutcliffe Speakman is to be renamed Banner Chemicals, and will focus on its chemicals distribution business following the sale of its carbons and environmental engineering divisions to Waterlink of the US.
21-May-1998


Nycomed Amersham is selling its chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico to Searle for £40m.
21-May-1998


Unilever has acquired AmeriClean Systems, the US cleaning products group, in a deal thought to be worth up to £30m.
14-May-1998


Mitsubishi Chemical is to provide funding for a new Genetic Therapies Centre at Imperial College, London.
13-May-1998


Abbot Group is acquiring the non-destructive testing and technical welding department of ICI Chemicals and Polymers for £2.8m.
13-May-1998


Citicorp Venture Capital is to re-acquire Brunner Mond, the soda ash company that it floated two years ago, for £145m.
13-May-1998


Sun Chemical of the US is to acquire Gibbon, the UK printing inks company, for £26m.
13-May-1998


IWP of Ireland is acquiring Jeyes, the cleaning fluids company, for £51m, which should improve its sales leverage with supermarket chains.
08-May-1998


ICI has acquired Mona Industries, the US-based surfactants business, for about £25m.
06-May-1998


Thompson Acquisitions has acquired Usborne, the fertiliser company, for £10.7m.
01-May-1998


Elan Corp of Ireland has acquired Neurex, the Californian developer of acute care drugs, for $700m.
30-Apr-1998


Akzo Nobel of the Netherlands has launched a £1.8bn agreed takeover bid for Courtaulds, which will make it the largest paints company in the world.
21-Apr-1998


Croda International has sold its industrial paints operation to Ameron International of the US for £28m in order to focus on oleochemicals, and is also in discussions to sell its paints joint venture with Hoechst.
15-Apr-1998


Inspec is selling its Antwerp-based commodity chemicals business, which makes ethylene oxide and glycol, to management for £82m, and is likely to use the proceeds to make acquisitions in speciality chemicals.
15-Apr-1998


Oxford Molecular is set to acquire Chemical Design Holdings, the pharmaceutical software company, for about £6m.
06-Apr-1998


ICI is planning to sell Crosfield Group, the maker of catalysts for detergents and silicas, to WR Grace of the US for £272m.
03-Apr-1998


Norbrook Laboratories, the animal health concern, is planning to buy J Webster Laboratories, the Canadian anti-bacterials company, from Merial for about £17m.
01-Apr-1998


ICI has acquired Acheson Industries, the US speciality chemicals company that makes coatings for TVs and lubricants, for £333m, and will merge it with its National Starch & Chemical division.
31-Mar-1998


Astra of Sweden is considering plans to move some of its drugs research activities into the UK and the US due to high taxes and a shortage of scientists in Sweden.
23-Mar-1998


Oxford Asymmetry, the biotechnology company, has raised £18m in a share placing that will enable it to invest in new staff, premises and technology.
11-Mar-1998


The Ministry of Defence is to set up a science park for biotechnology companies at the Porton Down germ warfare research centre near Salisbury, as part of a strategy to increase technology transfer with industry.
09-Mar-1998


Brunner Mond has completed the acquisition of the soda ash business of Akzo Nobel of the Netherlands, which makes it the second largest soda ash producer in Europe.
03-Mar-1998


LJ Specialities of Japan is to build a chemical dyestuffs plant in Chesterfield, creating 20 jobs.
09-Feb-1998


Intercare has acquired Freeman Pharmaceuticals for £3.4m.
06-Feb-1998


Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham are planning a £100bn merger to create the largest pharmaceuticals company in the world, thereby putting an end to SmithKline's plans to merge with American Home Products.
31-Jan-1998


Glaxo Wellcome is acquiring an 80% stake in Polfa Poznan, the Polish drugs company, for £132m as part of a strategy to expand in emerging markets.
29-Jan-1998


Cookson has acquired the jewellery components division of Inverness Corp of the US for an initial £24m in order to increase the value-added activities of its precious metals business.
24-Jan-1998


Ciba Specialty Chemicals of Switzerland is to acquire Allied Colloids in a £1.42bn deal, having outbid Hercules of the US.
22-Jan-1998


SmithKline Beecham has confirmed that it is in merger discussions with American Home Products to create the world's largest pharmaceuticals group with sales of about £16bn.
21-Jan-1998


Oxford Asymmetry, the speciality chemicals company, is planning a flotation in order to raise £20m to invest in laboratories, technology and new staff.
20-Jan-1998


McLeod Russel is acquiring Eurogard, the Dutch surface coatings business, from GE Plastics for £4.7m.
06-Jan-1998


Zeneca is planning a £11m investment in the expansion of facilities to produce its Zomig migraine treatment, and a new plant will open in Macclesfield early next year.
06-Jan-1998


ICI has completed the sale of its polymer and intermediates business in the UK and the US as well as its 70% stake in a PTA joint venture in Taiwan to DuPont for £1.4bn, as part of its strategy to exit the bulk chemicals market.
03-Jan-1998


Holliday Chemical is acquiring an Italian manufacturer of cephalosporins, aminoglycosides and other pharmaceutical intermediates from Hoechst Marion Roussel for £9m.
01-Jan-1998