• In June, a large pharmaceutical glass factory in the Urals region of Sverdlovsk Achitskom will start the Stoimost project (2.8 billion rubles), fully funded by Japanese investors. The company’s products, which will be manufactured at the site of the former glass factory Ufimkinskogo, will cover approximately 25 percent of Russian market of pharmaceutical glass.
• Emirates Extrusion Factory, a leading aluminium extrusion company in the UAE and a subsidiary of Masharie, the private equity arm of Dubai Investments, announces the acquisition of a state-of-the-art production facility for aluminium extruded profiles from AKFA Aluminium and Plastic FZE, to increase its operational efficiency and meet rising demand.
• Kurion Inc., an Irvine, Calif., company that specializes in cleaning up nuclear waste, says it has acquired assets and technology for turning nuclear waste into glass. The GeoMelt assets were bought from Impact Services and the technology was acquired from GeoSafe Corp., a subsidiary of Battelle.
• Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) of Japan has decided to increase its prices for aluminum hydroxide and alumina, and started discussions with customers.
• Austrian fireproof materials maker RHI AG says it boosted first-quarter operating profit 15 percent while increasing its operating margin, reaffirming its forecast for higher profitability in 2012.