J.M. Huber Corporation to Purchase Akzo-PQ Silica White Fillers Business

Business Wire, April 5, 2000

Business Editors

EDISON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2000

J.M. Huber Corporation has announced that it has signed a letter of intent to purchase the silica white fillers business of Akzo-PQ Silica (APS), a 50-50 joint silica and silicates venture of Akzo Nobel and PQ Corporation. The acquired business will join Huber's Engineered Materials sector. Huber Engineered Materials (HEM) is a leading supplier of performance additives, primarily for the papermaking, polymer, personal care, food and feed, and coatings businesses. Additives include brightening pigments, reinforcers, carriers and thickeners.

"The sale of this business to J.M. Huber Corporation adds strategic value by joining it to an enterprise with a strong historical presence in the North American market and growing presence in Western Europe," said Jack Clem, Managing Director, HEM Europe.

The precipitated silica business, which is becoming increasingly global, supplies consumers with products for a variety of applications in personal care, food and feed additives, specialty paper, industrial rubber goods, coatings, and "green" tires. Huber's APS acquisition includes a production operation in Dren (Germany) and research facilities in Maastricht (the Netherlands).

All current APS white fillers business employees will continue with J. M. Huber. Required regulatory approvals will be sought as and when appropriate.

Founded in 1883, the J.M. Huber Corporation, http://www.huber.com, (based in Edison, New Jersey), is a diversified, multinational supplier of engineered materials, natural resources and technology-based services. With global customers spanning many industries ranging from energy and plastics to construction, Huber is one of the largest family-owned companies in America. It focuses on fast, technology-based solutions in inorganic chemistry, 3-D seismic exploration, engineered wood composites and other specialties to solve customers' problems and create new products with unique properties.

Akzo Nobel, http://www.akzonobel.com, based in the Netherlands, serves customers throughout the world with healthcare products, coatings, and chemicals. Consolidated sales for 1999, excluding Acordis, the former fibers business divested to CVC Capital Partners at the end of 1999, totaled some EUR 12 billion (USD 13 billion, GBP 8 billion). Excluding Acordis, the company employed 68,000 people in 75 countries at the end of 1999. Financial results for the first quarter of 2000 will be announced on April 25, 2000.

PQ Corporation, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, USA, is the world's largest volume producer of sodium silicates, silica-derived products and solid glass spheres. Founded in 1831, PQ is a company whose environmentally friendly products make significant contributions to a variety of products and industries, including detergents, pulp and paper, transportation, construction and food and beverages. With its affiliated companies, PQ Corporation worldwide currently has 67 inorganic chemical and glass-bead plants in 19 countries, and on five continents -- North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.