COVINGTON, KY/WILMINGTON, DE – Ashland Inc. has completed its acquisition of Hercules Inc. Ashland now comprises a core of three specialty chemical businesses. These businesses – paper and water technologies, specialty resins, and specialty additives and functional ingredients – hold strong market positions and promise global growth potential.

 

Ashland’s new structure, incorporating the former Hercules businesses, is composed of five commercial units: Ashland Hercules Water Technologies, a $2 billion specialty paper and water chemicals business formed from the related operations of Hercules and Ashland; Ashland Performance Materials, the specialty resins business serving the construction, infrastructure, energy and transportation segments; Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients, a business of specialty additives and functional ingredients derived from renewable resources and serving personal care, pharmaceuticals, food, construction, transportation and other industries; Ashland Consumer Markets, which comprises the Valvoline® lubricants, automotive appearance and service business; and Ashland Distribution, a North American distributor of chemicals, plastics, composite materials and environmental services.

 

The corporate headquarters for Ashland will remain in Covington, KY. The Hercules administrative facility in Wilmington, DE, now becomes the operations center for the Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients and the Ashland Hercules Water Technologies commercial units. The company recently repositioned the operations center for its Ashland Performance Materials commercial unit to Barendrecht, the Netherlands, where it can serve growing demands in Eastern Europe and serve as a central point for operations in the Americas and Asia Pacific. Ashland Consumer Markets (Valvoline) will maintain its operations base in Lexington, KY, and Ashland Distribution will continue to be based in Dublin, OH.