Cognis offering employee buyouts

        In the face of slowing business conditions, Cognis Corp., the Winton Place specialty chemical company, is offering a voluntary severance plan to management employees.

        Bob Betz, president of the subsidiary of German-based Henkel KGaA, said the company, which employs about 1,000 in Cincinnati and 2,000 in North America, isn't disclosing the number of positions it is trying to eliminate but said the number is small.

        He said the buyouts are aimed at cutting the company's costs in the face of a slowdown in business this winter.

        He said the employee buyouts are independent of an ongoing effort by Henkel to find a buyer for Cognis. Henkel announced in November it would seek a buyer for the company, which makes oleochemicals for industrial and commercial applications, so it can focus on higher-margin consumer products.
       

Microsoft expands Cincinnati office

        Microsoft Corp. has expanded its Cincinnati office, taking an entire floor in the Scripps Building downtown.

        The software company employs 55 people in Cincinnati, and the new 19,000-square-foot office can accommodate about 100, said David Hanna, Microsoft's corporate account manager who heads the Cincinnati office.
       

New orange juice on way from Coke

        The Coca-Cola Co. is introducing a new not-from-concentrate orange juice that will compete with PepsiCo Inc.'s popular Tropicana Pure Premium brand juice.

        Simply Orange Juice Co., a new subsidiary of Coke's Houston-based Minute Maid unit, will begin marketing the juice in the Northeast in May, Coca-Cola said Thursday. It will use Minute Maid's distribution channels.

        Minute Maid is one of several Coca-Cola brands that eventually will be combined with Sunny Delight and other juice brands from Cincinnati's Procter & Gamble to form an independent snack and juice company.

        The still-to-be named new company is expected to begin operations this fall, pending regulatory approval of the proposed limited liability company with its own board of directors, composed of two Coca-Cola executives and two from P&G.
       

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