Solutia Inc. said today it will buy Southwall Technologies Inc., which makes films and glass products for automotive, electronic and architectural markets, including screens for smartphones and e-readers, for $113 million. The deal to acquire Palo Alto, Calif.-based Southwall for $13.60 per share of Southwall common stock will be funded by Solutia from existing cash on hand, the St. Louis-based company said. ... Read More
The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center said today it won a $5.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop the oilseed plant camelina as a sustainable source of biofuel and an alternative to oil. Investigators at the Danforth Center’s Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels will work to develop an enhanced variety of camelina that produces more oil per acre. ... Read More
Abbott Laboratories is spinning off its branded drug business and will become two separate medical companies, the Chicago Tribune reports. The spinoff will exclusively sell Abbott's branded pharmaceuticals. Abbott CEO Miles White will continue to lead the rest of the medical device company. ... Read More
Investments in startups by venture capitalists increased in Missouri in the third quarter but declined in Kansas, the Kansas City Business Journal reports. Venture capitalists signed five deals for a total of $92.1 million in the third quarter, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the National Venture Capital Association. That compared with three deals worth $7.7 million during the second quarter. ... Read More
Express Scripts closed on its $29.1 billion acquisition of Medco Health Solutions today, the company announced shortly after 7 a.m. The deal creates the largest pharmacy benefits manager in the U.S., with about $100 billion in annual revenue. First announced in July 2011, the acquisition was approved by shareholders in December but was held up by antitrust concerns. ... Read More
Sigma-Aldrich Corp. acquired Cleveland-based Research Organics Inc. to expand the company’s buffer production capacity and increase its portfolio of pharmaceutical grade raw materials for the biopharmaceutical and diagnostic markets, the St. Louis Business Journal reports. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ... Read More
Gov. Jay Nixon today signed Senate Bill 7, the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA), passed by the General Assembly during the special session. Passage of the MOSIRA bill was ... Read More
Emerson’s new Industrial Energy Group plans to convert huge power plants used in manufacturing facilities, refineries and foundries into bio-mass-burning hybrids to produce the needed energy to run these giant plants ... Read More
Great Plains Energy Inc. and American Electric Power have formed a company that will build and invest in transmission infrastructure, the companies announced Wednesday. The new company will be called Transource EnergySM LLC. Kansas City-based Great Plains owns 13.5 percent; AEP owns the rest. Great Plains said the partnership would put it in a good position to compete in the emerging competitive transmission market. ... Read More
Fifteen area companies are among 43 total companies that will present to venture capitalists, corporate and private investors and investment bankers today at the 13th Annual InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum in ... Read More