Dow to fight $1.2bn in price-fixing damages
Dow Chemical plans to fight a $1.2bn damages award for price-fixing using a recent antitrust ruling in the Supreme Court, it said on Thursday. A federal court in Kansas City,…
Gulf petrochemicals expansion threatened
Middle East energy producers have long bet on petrochemicals as a way to diversify their economies away from reliance on oil and gas revenue. Industry experts predicted that as US…
Dow receives $2.2bn to settle join venture
Dow Chemical of the US has been paid $2.2bn by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation in a final resolution of the dispute between the two companies over a failed joint venture plan…
Solvay to exit PVC with Ineos venture
©Bloomberg Two of Europe’s biggest chemical companies have agreed a joint venture that will create one of the world’s largest producers of PVC plastics by revenues. Solvay, the Franco-Belgian chemicals…
Solvay / Ineos: chemical reaction
PVC was all the rage at New York Fashion Week this year. But it is falling out of favour elsewhere, as Solvay’s pivot away from the sector on Monday suggests.…
Week in review, April 27
©Reuters Chairman and founder Peter Munk makes clear that Barrick Gold remains his creature A round-up of some of the week’s most significant corporate events and news stories. Corporate person…
No easy solution to our bee problem
The EU may be about to make a mistake. The European Commission has proposed a temporary ban on the use of certain agricultural pesticides. It should drop this idea. The…
PotashCorp abandons $16bn ICL bid
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, one of the world’s leading fertiliser producers, has abandoned its $16bn takeover bid for Israel Chemicals amid mounting opposition within Israel. The Canadian group, which had…
Evonik’s Frankfurt trading debut set at €2bn
Europe’s biggest public listing of the year will take place on Thursday when a German chemicals company makes its trading debut in Frankfurt, valuing it at nearly €15bn. The listing…
DuPont profit more than doubles
DuPont has reported a more than doubling of its first-quarter profits, boosted by the completion of the near-$5bn sale of its performance coating business, and supported by rising demand for…
European slowdown hits Akzo Nobel
Shares in Akzo Nobel fell more than 4 per cent after the Netherlands-based paint and chemicals group unveiled a decline in first-quarter revenues due to weak demand in Europe and…
Israel to ‘vigorously oppose’ Potash deal
©Getty Yair Lapid, Israel’s new finance minister, will “vigorously oppose” Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan’s planned takeover of Israel Chemicals, in a move that could derail the biggest deal in the…
Aircraft and car polymers boost Victrex
Wider use of its high-strength plastics in aircraft and car designs has helped Victrex to overcome weaker sales of its medical implants – giving a lift to first-half performance at…
AZ Electronic Materials warns on profits
Shares in AZ Electronic Materials fell 35 per cent after the provider of speciality chemicals, which go into products such as Apple’s iPad, issued a profit warning. The FTSE 250…
Oxford Catalysts plans waste-fed factory
A new manufacturing era, in which small plants produce oil and plastics from waste materials, is about to dawn in the UK, according to Oxford Catalysts, the chemicals technology group.…