Dow Chemical acquires Union Carbide business.

Dow Chemical, Midland, MI, has purchased Union Carbide, Danbury, CT, for $9.3 billion. The merged company, which will operate as Dow Chemical, will have $24 billion in annual revenue. Approximately 2,000 jobs will be cut as a result of the merger, leaving about 49,000 employees. Dow Chemical produces plastics, as well as chemicals used in various industries, including Styrofoam insulation and herbicides. Union Carbide produces basic and specialty chemicals, including ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol.

Cooper Tire & Rubber, Findlay, OH, has signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire Standard Products of Dearborn, MI. The combination is said to make Cooper North America's largest manufacturer of automotive sealing systems. On a combined basis, the company expects to generate approximately $3.2 billion in annual revenues in its first full year of operation, of which approximately half will come from tire operations and half from engineered products.

Akrochem, Akron, OH, has completed a 12,000 square foot addition to its manufacturing plant in Norton, OH, where it produces color dispersions for the rubber and plastics industries. The project, valued at over $1 million, included new equipment that increased the plant's production capacity by more than 30%. With the expansion, Akrochem's Norton plant now encompasses 40,000 square feet.

Montell Polyolefins has started up a Spherilene process polyethylene plant, operated by OPP Petroquimica in Brazil under license from Montell.

Davis-Standard is doubling the size of its technical center at its headquarters in Pawcatuck, CT. Davis-Standard's Extrusion Process Technology Group and screw design engineers will soon be housed in a laboratory setting that will facilitate continuous advancements of the company's extrusion technology, increasing the company's current 7,600 square feet of lab space to approximately 15,000 square feet. Davis-Standard Killion will relocate from Cedar Grove, NJ to the state-of-the-art facility in Pawcatuck.

Uniroyal Chemical, Middlebury, CT, a subsidiary of Crompton & Knowles, plans to open its first Adiprene low-free TDI (toluene diisocyanate) plant in Europe by March 2000. The facility is currently under construction in Latina, Italy, and represents a multi-million dollar investment. The company operates two other LFTDI plants in the U.S., both located in Gastonia, NC.

Commercial Plastics' Trenton and Warminster, NJ branches have merged and moved to a new facility in Trevose, PA.

Testing Machines, Islandia, NY, a manufacturer of testing instrumentation for various industries, purchased Messmer Buchel Ltd. in the U.K. and Buchel van der Korput in The Netherlands. This multi-million dollar acquisition is said to enable TMI to further its global presence in the specialized testing instrument market.

Freudenberg-NOK's board of directors approved the formation of Vibracoustic North America, an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary of Freudenberg-NOK, to align its automotive vibration control business with recently announced plans for Vibracoustic worldwide. Vibracoustic North America will be based in Plymouth, MI, at its 20,000 square foot headquarters. In addition to office space, the $7 million facility, which will open later this year, includes laboratories and test equipment. Freudenberg-NOK also completed the purchase of Farnam-Meillor, a manufacturer of gaskets and gasket assemblies, rounding out the company's in-house capability of providing total transmission sealing to automakers. Terms were not disclosed. Farnam-Meillor and its 177,000 square foot gasket production facility in Necedah, WI, will become part of Freudenberg-NOK's Automotive Sector and will be renamed Farnam Sealing Products. Farnam-Meillor's sales office and technology center in Troy, MI will be integrated into Freudenberg-NOK's Concept Center in Plymouth, MI.

SKM Applied Technology Partners, Radnor, PA, announced the acquisition of three plastic injection molders, including Tri-Molded Plastics, Apollo Packaging and Cascade Die Mold. ATP, a venture formed in 1997, has now completed six acquisitions, investing a total of approximately $120 million. These most recent acquisitions bring ATP's combined annual sales to approximately $115 million.

CAD Cut, Marblehead, MA, a provider of industrial fabric laser and knife cutting services, has expanded its manufacturing plant. CAD Cut has added 6,000 square feet to its Vermont facility.

Solutia, St. Louis, MO, has opened a regional customer service center in Singapore to better serve its customers throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Deublin, Waukegan, IL, completed its plant expansion, which increases manufacturing floor space from 80,000 square feet to 130,000 square feet. Deublin's state-of-the-art plant features over 25 new CNC machines.

EG&G, Wellesley, MA, completed its acquisition of Perkin-Elmer's Analytical Instruments Division, headquartered in Norwalk, CT, a producer of analytical testing instruments and consumables.

Omya U.K. Limited, Surrey, U.K., purchased Lafarge Redland Industrial Minerals, a division of Lafarge Redland Aggregates, for an undisclosed sum. Omya U.K. supplies industrial minerals and specialty chemicals to industries such as rubber, plastics, paints and building products.

Azco Mining, Ferndale, WA, has made considerable progress in the development of its muscovite mica project and related commercial processing plant, located near Phoenix, AZ. It is estimated that the facility will have an annual capacity of 22 million pounds and could supply 10% of the U.S. market for in excess of 20 years.