NAPERVILLE, Ill. and ESSEN, Germany, March 14, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Nalco Company (NYSE:NLC) and Evonik's Goldschmidt Industrial Specialties have expanded their agreement for Nalco to be the exclusive distributor of Evonik's tissue additives in Central and South America.
Tissue is a low-weight, thin paper often used to make facial and bathroom tissue. Softness and absorbency are critical factors for end-user satisfaction. Tissue makers need to achieve that consumer expectation with an efficient manufacturing process that effectively combines the fiber, water and energy needed to make the tissue. Evonik additives include softeners and debonders that help achieve the appropriate softness levels for the end use.
"We continue to focus on delivering our customers innovative and sustainable solutions in all geographies of the world. Building on our successful partnership in North America and Europe, we are very excited to extend our relationship with Evonik into Central and South America," said Stuart Passantino, Global Strategic Business Leader for Tissue and Towel Grades for Nalco. "Nalco's on-site expertise, coupled with Evonik's broad softener product line, helps our customers improve sheet properties and is a proven partnership of success."
Yvonne Deac, Global Marketing Manager Textile/Tissue for Evonik added, "This unique combination of Nalco's powerful chemical, mechanical and operational background plus innovation and mill service has already been delivering value-added solutions to customers in other regions over the past few years. Now we will bring this successful approach to Central and South America where tissue producers and mills can now benefit from our specialty product range. This includes our well-known tissue wet-end and topical softener and softener/debonder brands AROSURF(r) PA, VARISOFT(r), Z-QUAT(tm), REWOQUAT(r) and TEGOPREN(r), now complemented with Nalco's mechanical, operational and chemical approach."
In July 2006, Nalco was appointed exclusive distributor for Evonik's tissue product range in Europe. An agency agreement between the companies covering the United States, Canada and Mexico was finalized in February 2007.
About Nalco
Nalco is the world's leading water treatment and process improvement company, delivering significant environmental, social and economic performance benefits to our customers. We help our customers reduce energy, water and other natural resource consumption, enhance air quality, minimize environmental releases and improve productivity and end products while boosting the bottom line. Together our comprehensive solutions contribute to the sustainable development of customer operations. More than 11,500 Nalco employees operate in 130 countries supported by a comprehensive network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and research centers to serve a broad range of end markets. In 2007, Nalco achieved sales of more than $3.9 billion. For more information visit www.nalco.com.
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About Evonik
Evonik Industries is the creative industrial group from Germany which operates in three business areas: Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate. Evonik is a global leader in specialty chemicals, an expert in power generation from hard coal and renewable energies, and one of the largest private residential real estate companies in Germany. Our strengths are creativity, specialization, continuous self-renewal, and reliability. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In its fiscal year 2006 more than 43,000 employees generated sales of about Euro 14.8 billion and an operating profit (EBIT) of over Euro 1.2 billion.
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