ICI sets splitup into two units for Jan. 1

British chemical giant ICI last week moved closer to splitting—or, as they say in the U.K., demerging—itself into two separate publicly traded units: one consisting of chemicals and materials, and the other made up of the company's pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical units (C&EN, Aug. 10, page 5). When it first discussed the splitup last July, the company said that any separation of the two units would not take place until after ICI released its preliminary annual results in February 1993. However, last week, ICI announced that as of Jan. 1, 1993, there will be two separate operating units. The chemicals and materials unit will retain the ICI name. This unit's annual sales will be about $15 billion. The pharmaceuticals and agricultural unit—which will have annual sales of about $6 billion—will bear a new name, Zeneca Ltd. Previously, ICI has referred to that sector as ICI Bioscience in discussions about the separation. However, ICI chairman ...