Nalco Water, an Ecolab Company, is an American

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city. Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was ...

-based supplier of water, energy and air improvement

solution Solution may refer to: * Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another * Solution (equation), in mathematics ** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds * Solutio ...

s and services for industrial and institutional markets, owned by

Ecolab Ecolab Inc. is an American corporation that is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It develops and offers services, technology and systems that specialize in treatment, purification, cleaning and hygiene of water in a wide variety of appli ...

. The company sells various products and services designed to reduce energy, water and other natural resource consumption, enhance

air quality Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

, minimize environmental releases and improve productivity and end products. The company was founded in 1928 as the National Aluminate Corporation, formed from the merger of Chicago Chemical Company and the Aluminum Sales Corporation. By a series of mergers and acquisition, its name was changed to Nalco Chemical Company (1959 - 1999); then Ondeo Nalco Company (1999 - 2004); and in 2004 to Nalco Holding Company. It became a subsidiary of Ecolab Inc. in December 2011 after the completion of the US$5.4 billion acquisition by Ecolab. Nalco Water serves more than 70,000 customers employing over 11,500 employees operating in over 130 countries. Among its products is Corexit - an oil

dispersant A dispersant or a dispersing agent is a substance, typically a surfactant, that is added to a suspension of solid or liquid particles in a liquid (such as a colloid or emulsion) to improve the separation of the particles and to prevent their sett ...

widely used in the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considere ...

History

The company traces its origins to 1928 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

with the establishment of National Aluminate Corporation - formed from the merger of Chicago Chemical Company and the Aluminum Sales Corporation. In 1959 it changed its name to Nalco Chemical Company; and in 1964, it became a publicly traded company listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

. It acquired

Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories (IBT Labs) was an American industrial product safety testing laboratory. IBT conducted significant quantities of research for pharmaceutical companies, chemical manufacturers and other industrial clients; at its h ...

in 1966, and the marine business from Bull & Roberts (now Waltron) in 1984. The company was delisted from NYSE and renamed to Ondeo Nalco Company, following its 1999 acquisition by the French company,

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...

(presently

GDF Suez Engie SA is a French multinational utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie, which operates in the fields of energy transition, electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear, renewable energy and petroleum. It ...

). On 9 December 2003, the private equity group consisting of the

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...

Apollo Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, ...

LP and

Goldman Sachs Capital Partners Goldman Sachs Capital Partners is the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs, focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments globally. The group, which is based in New York City, was founded in 1986. As of 2019, GS Capital Partners ...

collaborated to acquire Ondeo Nalco Company from Suez SA for US$4.2 billion. The Company went public again, returning to the New York Stock Exchange in late 2004 under the name Nalco Holding Company. In 2007, Nalco Water achieved sales of more than US$3.9 billion. In July 2011, Nalco Water announced a merger with

, Inc., and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecolab Inc. in December 2011 after the completion of the US$5.4 billion acquisition by Ecolab.

ExxonMobil ties

In 1994, Nalco Water and Exxon Chemical Company announced the formation of the joint venture, Nalco Exxon Energy Chemicals L.P., to provide products and services to all facets of the petroleum and natural gas industries. In 2001, NALCO, which by then named 'Ondeo Nalco', strengthened its position in the petroleum industry when Nalco Exxon Energy Chemicals, L.P. became part of the company through redemption of

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...

stock in the joint venture. Daniel S. Sanders, who was previously president of Exxon Mobil Chemical Company, a subsidiary of

Exxon Mobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...

; serves on Nalco's (now,

's) board.Daniel S Sanders Bio from Ecolab website
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Lobbying activity and political contributions

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...

documents Nalco Company Political Action Committee financial contributions to political candidates, with 2010 contributions to

Judy Biggert Judith Biggert (née Borg; born August 15, 1937) is an American politician and attorney. She is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1999 to 2013. She is a member of the Republican Party. Biggert was defeated in her 2012 re-elect ...

(R-IL),

Charles Boustany Charles William Boustany Jr. (; born February 21, 1956) is an American politician, physician, and former congressman from Lafayette, Louisiana, who served as the U.S. representative from Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 2005 to 2017 (nu ...

(R-LA),

Dan Lipinski Daniel William Lipinski (born July 15, 1966) is an American politician and political scientist who served eight terms as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 3rd congressional district from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Blue Dog Coalition, Lip ...

(D-IL),

John Shimkus John Mondy Shimkus (, born February 21, 1958) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from 1997 to 2021, representing the 20th, 19th and 15th congressional districts of Illinois. Shimkus is a member of the Republican Part ...

(R-IL) and

Dick Durbin Richard Joseph Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Durbin has served as the Senate De ...

(D-IL). OpenSecrets also lists Nalco Holding Company's spending on

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, whic ...

, including $160,000 in 2010 to Ogilvy Government Relations to lobby on their behalf to the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, the Department of the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency between April 1 and June 30 of 2010, on "issues related to the use of corexit 9500 in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill".

References

External links

Nalco Chemical Official website
{{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Chemical companies established in 1928 Chemical companies of the United States Companies based in DuPage County, Illinois Companies based in Naperville, Illinois 1928 establishments in Illinois 2011 mergers and acquisitions Holding companies established in 1928 American companies established in 1928