MOSCOW (MRC) -- DSM says it has acquired the remaining 61.5% of shares in Midori USA, Inc. (Boston, Massachusetts), a biotechnology startup that specializes in the development of targeted eubiotics, for USD63 million, said the company.
DSM already owned 38.5% of Midori, and with the purchase of the remaining equity has now become the sole owner, it says. Midori has developed a technology platform that identifies glycans derived from natural food sugars that can precisely modulate how the gut microbiome functions in animals, DSM says. The use of eubiotics has grown significantly as farming practices shift to become more sustainable and along with the need to provide antibiotic alternatives, it says.
Midori's platform is highly synergetic with DSM's bioscience capability and current eubiotics portfolio, according to DSM, which says it will launch its first targeted glycan in collaboration with Midori later this year.
As MRC informed earlier, DSM formed a 50/50 joint venture (JV) with VDL Groep (Eindhoven, Netherlands), called Dutch PPE Solutions, to produce medical facemasks and establish the first permanent production of critical facemask components in the Netherlands. The companies are investing several million euros to purchase manufacturing equipment and build manufacturing facilities to produce meltblown polypropylene (PP), the critical material layer in medical facemasks that filters viruses, and make medical masks.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
DSM Resins & Functional Materials, which includes the Sustainable Coatings and Functional Materials divisions, provides highly market-specific products such as resins for use in paints, plastics and other industrial applications, and coatings for optical fibers. DSM Advanced Solar manufactures high performance anti-reflective coatings for glass. DSM Advanced Solar produces PV module sheets.