5-minute news watch

02 July 2007 00:00  [Source: ICB Americas]

Rohm and Haas invests in 193nm

Rohm and Haas's electronic materials division plans to invest $60m in lithography equipment, including an immersion lithography system. The investment would support its research and development of advanced 193 nanometer photoresist and antireflective coatings used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.

Merck to build €40m biopharma plant

Merck KGaA will build a €40-50m ($54-68m) biopharmaceutical industry raw materials plant at its Darmstadt, Germany site. The plant will start in stages in different product areas in 2008 and 2009.

Degussa doubles Brazil carbon black

Degussa has doubled carbonblack capacity to 100,000 tonnes/year at its Paulinia plant in Brazil. The €65m ($87.8m) expansion makes it the world's second-largest manufacturer of carbon black with a capacity of around 1.4m tonnes/year.

DuPont sells miticide, fungicide assets

DuPont has sold its fenbutatin-oxide miticide and triphenyltin hydroxide contact fungicide assets to Indian agrochemical major United Phosphorus Ltd. (UPL). DuPont's Crop Protection assets include Vendex miticides, Super Tin fungicides and associated trademarks for use in the crop, turf, nursery, ornamental, aquatic, and other noncrop vegetation management applications.

Invista has ADN, HMD, nylon force majeure

Invista has declared force majeure on adiponitrile (ADN), hexamethylene diamine (HMD) and nylon 6,6 polymer following an outage at the company's plant in Orange, Texas. A mechanical problem occurred at the facility in mid-June and halted production at the 260,000 tonne/year ADN unit. The company confirmed it expected to be on sales allocation until the end of July, but did not disclose any further details.

Ciba to delist from NYSE

Switzerland-based Ciba Specialty Chemicals intends to delist from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and terminate its reporting obligations under the Securities Exchange Act (1934) in order to reduce costs. The delisting is expected to be effective from July 16, 2007. The company would maintain its American Depository Receipts allowing over-the-counter trading, it said, adding, it would retain its primary listing on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SWX) in Zurich

Ceradyne to buy EP Boron assets

EaglePicher will sell EaglePicher Boron to Ceradyne. EPBoron, located in Quapaw, Okla., produces enriched boron isotopes for the nuclear, semiconductor, and hazardous materials industries. Its products include isotope B11, an additive to semiconductor-grade silicon, and istope B10, a neutron absorber.

CORRECTION

Page 17 of the June 18 issue incorrectly had a photograph of Dan Sheets, who is vice president of sales at Lubrizol. The photograph was supposed to be of Don Sheets, chief financial officer of Dow Corning.

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