Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals 1999 - Company News Summary

Gemini is planning to acquire Eurona, the Swedish biotechnology company, for about £3m, in order to develop its research into the link between genes and diseases.
16-Dec-1999

Cookson is to acquire Ethone-OMI, the US speciality chemicals company, for £310m, as part of a strategy to become a one-stop shop for manufacturers of printed circuit boards.
14-Dec-1999

The Roslin Institute and Lothian & Edinburgh Enterprise have announced a £5m expansion plan for the Roslin BioCentre, creating 250 jobs and space for a further ten biotechnology companies.
07-Dec-1999

AstraZeneca and Novartis of Switzerland are to merge their agricultural chemicals operations, creating a new company called Syngenta that will be the world's biggest crop protection group.
02-Dec-1999

Yorkshire Group is to acquire the dyes business of CK Witco for £54m, which will give it market leadership in the US and a manufacturing base in continental Europe.
30-Nov-1999

Schroder Ventures has acquired Expand Sante, the French provider of marketing services for pharmaceutical companies, in a £35m deal.
29-Nov-1999

Alliance UniChem is acquiring a 20% stake in Galenica, the Swiss drugs wholesaler, for £65m, as part of a strategy to build up a European-wide distribution service.
24-Nov-1999

Greenhill Chemical Products, the manufacturer of washing-up liquid and car care products, is to merge with sister company Reabrook and set up a £4m warehouse at the former Rawdon Colliery near Swadlincote, with the creation of 100 jobs.
23-Nov-1999

Galen is to create a further 300 jobs at its pharmaceutical sites in Craigavon and Larne over the next three years, in a £40m investment.
17-Nov-1999

DuPont has opened a £78m Lycra plant at Maydown in Londonderry, with the creation of 100 jobs.
13-Nov-1999

Procter & Gamble has confirmed plans to set up a new centre at the Cobalt Business Park in North Tyneside to provide finance, procurement and employee services, with the creation of 245 jobs.
12-Nov-1999

Celltech has acquired Medeva for £554m, which will enable the company to distribute its pharmaceutical products through its own salesforce rather than licensing them.
12-Nov-1999

Morgan Crucible is acquiring VAC, the high-performance magnets company, from Siemens of Germany for £114m, as part of a strategy to reinvest the proceeds of the £180m sale of its chemical products business.
02-Nov-1999

Shire Pharmaceuticals is acquiring the French, Italian and German subsidiaries of Fuisz Technologies of the US for £24m, as part of a strategy to build up a global drug development business.
25-Oct-1999

BP Amoco is to sell Plaspack Kunststoff, the plastic webbing business, to A&H Jodl Besitz of Austria for undisclosed terms, as part of a strategic review of its petrochemicals portfolio.
13-Oct-1999

ICI is selling its acrylics business to Ineos and Charterhouse Development Capital for £505m, which will involve the transfer of 15 manufacturing sites and 2,000 employees.
05-Oct-1999

ICI is selling its fluoropolymers business to Asahi Glass of Japan for £83m, which will involve the transfer of 400 employees at plants in Lancashire and the US.
01-Oct-1999

British Vita has acquired Elian, the French specialist colour concentrates company, for £17m.
30-Sep-1999

McBride has acquired Wrafton Laboratories, the Devon-based manufacturer of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, for £22m.
23-Sep-1999

Axis-Shield is planning to acquire Medinor, the Norwegian medical products distributor, for £4.5m.
23-Sep-1999

Doncaster Pharmaceuticals, the distributor of pharmaceutical products to retail chemists, has undergone a management buy-out for undisclosed terms.
18-Sep-1999

Intercare is acquiring European Pharmaceuticals from Groenwoudt Beheer of the Netherlands for £25m, which will almost double its turnover.
18-Sep-1999

Pfizer has awarded a contract to Laing for the construction of a £50m information technology headquarters in Tadworth, Surrey, where it will employ about 900 people.
02-Sep-1999

Quintiles of the US has confirmed plans to create about 1,500 jobs at its pharmaceutical services business in Scotland, with most of the jobs being related to new drug development at its site in Bathgate.
01-Sep-1999

Whatman is to acquire Cambridge Molecular Technologies, the DNA purification company, for £4m.
30-Aug-1999

Blagden is to sell Corn Van Looke, its Belgium-based industrial chemicals division, to a new company called Valofin for £2.1m.
27-Aug-1999

Quintiles, the US provider of services to the pharmaceutical industry, is said to be planning to double its workforce in Lothian, creating a further 1,000 jobs.
11-Aug-1999

Hanson Logistics is to build a 50,000 sq ft chemicals warehouse in Huddersfield that will create 50 jobs, having won a major contract to store chemicals for Avecia.
10-Aug-1999

Burmah Castrol has sold its molten aluminium operation to Pyrotek of the US for £12m, as part of a strategy to sell non-core assets and focus on the Castrol brand.
10-Aug-1999

Reckitt & Colman is to merge with Benckiser of the Netherlands in a £5bn deal that will create a world leader in household cleaning products, and the new group will be called Reckitt Benckiser.
28-Jul-1999

Shire Pharmaceuticals is to acquire Roberts Pharmaceutical of the US for £570m, and is now looking at ways to increase sales in continental Europe.
27-Jul-1999

Ellis & Everard has acquired Allegro Chemicals of Ireland, in order to consolidate its position as one of Ireland's leading chemical distributors.
22-Jul-1999

Wassall has sold DAP, the adhesives and sealants manufacturer, to RPM of the US for £180m, and is now looking to spend up to £350m on engineering acquisitions in the US and Europe.
13-Jul-1999

Xenova is to sell MetaXen, its US-based drugs software business, to Exelixis Pharmaceuticals for £0.2m.
13-Jul-1999

BOC has agreed a £7.2bn joint takeover bid from Air Liquide of France and Air Products of the US, which will result in the group being broken up along geographical lines.
13-Jul-1999

Johnson Matthey is selling its electronic materials business to AlliedSignal of the US for £420m, and may use the proceeds to acquire the precious metals and catalysts operations being sold by Degussa-Huls.
10-Jul-1999

Brent International, the speciality chemicals company, has agreed to a £82m takeover offer from Chemetall of Germany.
09-Jul-1999

Burmah Castrol has sold its Protim Solignum timber treatment division to Osmose of the US for £9.5m.
02-Jul-1999

Pharmaceutical Profiles, the Nottingham-based clinical research company, is planning to recruit an additional 20 scientists as it prepares to move into a new £2.5m complex at Ruddington Fields.
01-Jul-1999

Birmingham City Council has given outline planning permission to Birmingham University for a £10m biomedical facility and European Research Institute, which is expected to lead to the creation of 500 jobs.
28-Jun-1999

Avocado Chemicals has won permission to expand its chemicals factory in Heysham with the creation of up to 50 jobs.
25-Jun-1999

BioReliance of the US is creating 50 jobs through the £2.3m expansion of its biotechnology headquarters at Stirling University's Innovation Park.
19-Jun-1999

Chiroscience and Celltech are to merge to create a combined biotechnology group valued at £696m, and the new company is expected to make further acquisitions.
16-Jun-1999

CP Pharmaceuticals is to expand its factory in Wrexham in order to meet rising demand for generic medicines in tablet form, and about 37 jobs will be created.
14-Jun-1999

BOC is acquiring the chemical management division of FSI International of the US for £24m.
10-Jun-1999

Procter & Gamble is to create 200 new jobs at its headquarters in Gosforth over the next five years, despite a worldwide rationalisation programme that will cut 15,000 jobs worldwide.
09-Jun-1999

VDC, the veterinary and healthcare products company, is to accept a £26m takeover offer from Genus.
09-Jun-1999

Galen is to acquire the product range of Bartholemew Rhodes, the Northamptonshire-based pharmaceutical company, for £20m.
08-Jun-1999

Burmah Castrol is expanding its speciality chemicals business with the £15m acquisition of two cement additives companies from Holderbank of Switzerland - CIA of France and Holderchem of Spain.
07-Jun-1999

L'Oreal is planning to expand its cosmetics factory in Llantrisant by 18,000 square metres, with the creation of up to 20 jobs.
02-Jun-1999

Advent International is to sell Trinity Pharmaceuticals to Chiesi Farmaceutici of Italy for about £50m.
02-Jun-1999

Polymasc Pharmaceuticals is to be acquired by Valentis, the US drug delivery company, in a £12m deal.
26-May-1999

Therapeutic Antibodies is to merge with Proteus International to create a combined biotechnology group with a market capitalisation of about £63m.
21-May-1999

Skyepharma is acquiring Hyal Pharmaceutical Corporation of Canada for £3.8m.
20-May-1999

Bioprocessing Corporation, the Durham-based supplier of chromatographic media, is being acquired by Millipore of the US for £12m.
20-May-1999

AstraZeneca is selling its speciality chemicals business to a management buy-out backed by Cinven and Investcorp for £1.3bn.
13-May-1999

European Colour, the Manchester-based pigments and coatings company, has acquired RFS Corporation, its US partner, in a £5.6m deal.
10-May-1999

Aga of Sweden has withdrawn from the UK industrial gases market by selling AGA Gas to Air Products & Chemicals of the US as well as its 50% stake in Air Gas Production to Messer of Germany.
10-May-1999

VDC, the veterinary and healthcare products company, has announced a reverse takeover deal with the Lawrence chemicals group, in order to fight off a hostile takeover bid from Genus.
10-May-1999

Blagden has sold its Blagden Chemicals formaldehyde and resin business to Borden Chemical of the US for £45m, and is now looking to sell its three remaining businesses in order to break-up the group.
07-May-1999

Unilever's DiverseyLever subsidiary is to build a £10m cleaning products distribution centre in Derby, creating about 70 jobs, in order to replace a facility at Port Sunlight.
06-May-1999

Nycomed Amersham is selling a 70% stake in its Norwegian-based pharmaceutical business to Nordic Capital in a deal that values the operation at £340m, in order to focus on imaging and biotech supply.
06-May-1999

Albright & Wilson, the chemicals company, has agreed to a £526m takeover from Rhodia of France.
06-May-1999

ICI and J&J Dyson have announced an asset swap in which ICI is paying £8.2m for Dyson's Dycat catalyst business, and Dyson is paying £3.3m for ICI's Saffil alumina fibre operation.
05-May-1999

Roslin Bio-Med, the cloning research company set up by Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, is being acquired by Geron of the US, and £12.5m will be invested at the institute over the next six years.
05-May-1999

ICI is to sell its polyurethane, tioxide and parts of its petrochemicals business to Huntsman of the US for £1.7bn, but will retain a 30% in a new company called Huntsman ICI that will hold the assets for up to four years.
16-Apr-1999

ICI is selling its Chance & Hunt chemical distribution business to a management team for about £10m, and has also announced a deal to sell a German speciality chemicals business to PPG Industries.
09-Apr-1999

IWP International is to acquire Fine Fragrances & Cosmetics, the cosmetics and perfumes company, for up to £8.8m.
09-Apr-1999

Xenova is selling Discovery, its technology subsidiary, to TerraGen Diversity of Canada for up to £5m.
01-Apr-1999

Merck Sharp & Dohme is planning to expand its neurological research centre near Harlow, creating about 65 jobs.
26-Mar-1999

Dale Polymers, the Accrington-based rubber products company, has undergone a management buy-out and is now seeking to expand into new markets.
18-Mar-1999

Norbrook Laboratories, the veterinary pharmaceuticals group, is planning to create 100 jobs in Newry this year, and a further 120 next year.
16-Mar-1999

Morgan Crucible is to sell its chemical products business to Illinois Tool Works of the US for £174m.
15-Mar-1999

Meconic, the pharmaceutical chemicals manufacturer, is selling its Phoenix division to a group of investors for £5.5m.
13-Mar-1999

Allied Coatings is creating 150 jobs at its plant in Whetstone, due to rising demand for resin-based coatings.
18-Feb-1999

SmithKline Beecham is selling Diversified Pharmaceutical Services, the pharmacy benefit business, to Express Scripts of the US for £427m, and its US clinical labs to Quest Diagnostics for £625m.
10-Feb-1999

Burmah Castrol has acquired two US lubricant businesses for £15m - Lubecon Systems of Michegan and Applied Chemicals International's performance lubricants operation.
06-Feb-1999

Watts Blake Bearne, the producer of ball clay for the ceramics industry, has agreed a £105m takeover by its largest shareholder SCR Sibelco.
05-Feb-1999

Galen has announced plans for a £21m expansion of its pharmaceutical activities in Northern Ireland, which will lead to 63 new jobs at its Craigavon headquarters and 40 jobs in its SynGal division.
03-Feb-1999

English China Clays, the industrial minerals company, is to be acquired by Imetal of France for £756m, and ECC may now seek to sell its Calgon speciality chemicals division.
02-Feb-1999

Shell Chemicals has sold Dumo, the Belgian manufacturer of polyurethane foam, to management for undisclosed terms.
21-Jan-1999

Shield Diagnostics is planning to acquire Axis Biochemicals of Norway for £67m, which will enable the two companies to jointly develop tests for assessing the risk of heart disease.
19-Jan-1999

MMP International, the Harrogate-based industrial coatings company, has been acquired by Devcon Plexus of the US for undisclosed terms.
12-Jan-1999

Yorkshire Group has acquired Viochrom, the Greek dyes company, for £12.8m.
05-Jan-1999