Joint ventures and alliances

General Chemical and Esseco S.p.A. Announce Joint Venture

General Chemical Corp., a subsidiary of GenTek Inc. (both of Parsippany, NJ; www.gentek-global.com), and Esseco S.p.A. (Trecate, Italy; www.esseco.it) will form a joint venture, Esseco General Chemical LLC, to supply various sodium and sulfur-based chemistries to the North American market. Slated to begin operations in the second quarter of 2003, the venture will focus on the supply and distribution of all grades of sodium metabisulfite, sodium sulfite and sodium thiosulfate, among other products.

Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha and GDI Pursue Biotechnology Projects

CDI Engineering Solutions, Inc. (Philadelphia, PA; www.cdicorp.com) and Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha Ltd. (Kawasaki, Japan; www.kakoki.co.jp/ english) will jointly pursue pharmaceutical and biotechnology projects. As part of their agreement, GDI will provide Mitsubishi with current good manufacturing practices (c-GMP) validation services for Mitsubishi's projects located mainly in Japan. The company will also train Mitsubishi engineers on c-GMP standards and cross-exchange engineers on a project-by-project basis.