MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Suez Severs Ties with Ondeo Nalco, Now a Privately Held Business

In a transaction valued at $4.350 billion, Suez, S.A. (Paris, France; www.suez. com) has sold Ondeo Nalco Co. (Naperville, IL; www.nalco.com), its subsidiary specializing in chemical water treatment and industrial processes, to the private equity group consisting of The Blackstone Group, Apollo Management, L.P. and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners is complete. The group tendered an offer for Ondeo Nalco in September 2003. As of the closing of the sale, the officially renamed Nalco Co. will operate as a privately held, independent business.

Baker Hughes Bades Farewell to Bird Machine Co.

Before the end of Jan. 2004, Baker Hughes, Inc. (Houston, TX; www.baker-hughes.com) will have sold Bird Machine Co., the remaining operating division of its process segment, to Andritz (Graz, Austria; www.andritz. com) for an undisclosed sum. Baker Hughes is recording pre-tax restructuring and impairment charges of $27 million ($17 million after tax) and expects to write off approximately $18 million after tax, to account for cumulative losses in currency exchange related to the sale.

BASF Goes Solo in Feed-Enzymes Manufacturing

The long-standing alliance between BASF AG and DSM (Herleen, Netherlands; www.dsm.com) to produce feed enzymes for animal nutrition has come to an end. BASF will build a plant to independently produce and market phytase, an essential animal nutrient that was developed by the partnership under the name Natuphos, as well as other feed enzymes. Until that plant is on-stream, DSM will continue to produce feed enzymes exclusively for BASF.

Dupont Purchases Antec's Biosecurity Assets

Antec International (Sudbury, Suffolk, U.K.; www.antecint.com), a developer of products and biosecurity programs specific to fighting environmental disease in farms, food-processing plants and storage facilities, is now part of the DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise. Antec will spearhead innovations in DuPont's product development pipeline, while keeping its own name and customer ties in tact.