Nalco is a provider of integrated water treatment and process improvement services, chemicals and equipment programmes for industrial and institutional applications. The company currently serves more than 70,000 customer locations representing a broad range of end markets.
It has established a global presence with over 11,500 employees operating in 130 countries, supported by a comprehensive network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and research centres. In 2008, Nalco achieved sales of $4bn.
History
In November 2004, Nalco completed its initial public offering (IPO). Blackstone and partners, Apollo Management and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners put in $992m in equity and raised $3.2bn in debt to buy Nalco for $4.1bn.
Nalco is split into the following divisions:
Industrial and Institutional Services
This division handles the water and waste treatment needs of industrial and institutional customers. It is organised around eight key industry segments: food & beverage, power, chemical/pharmaceutical, institutional, manufacturing, primary metals, auto/transportation and mining. In addition, environmental hygiene services serve all Nalco customers with global water and air hygiene programmes that protect against health risks like Legionnaires' disease.
The Industrial and Institutional Services Division's areas include:
Programmes for clarification of water in industrial and municipal processes;
Programmes to control scale, corrosion, fouling and micro-organisms in industrial and utility boiler and cooling systems;
Advanced recycle technologies (ART);
Speciality maintenance chemicals including water treatment, odour control and facility maintenance chemicals, lubricants and functional fluids;
Process chemicals and services for metalworking operations, paint finishing operations and related post-treatment processes;
Precision investment casting of metal parts;
Polishing of wafers and memory disks used by the electronics industry;
Cosmetic ingredients to improve the stability and performance of skin and hair care products; and
Speciality additives for use in water-based systems such as coatings, paint, adhesives, emulsions, slurries, plastics, and building products producers.
Paper Services Division
Nalco's paper services division helps paper mills balance mechanical, operational and chemical variables to optimise machine performance, improve sheet properties and enhance customer profitability.
Energy Services Division
Energy services solves problems on-site through its network of technical field specialists in more than 70 countries. With a continued emphasis on environmental leadership, it supplies speciality chemicals, applications and services for the entire hydrocarbon market, including process and water treatment.
Upstream
Nalco supports the oil well service industry by developing and supplying chemicals for drilling activities at the formation level. Its areas of expertise include supplying chemicals for the cementing, completion, drilling, fracturing and acidising phases of oil and gas exploration.
Downstream
Nalco provides products and services to the petroleum refining and fuels industry, enabling its customers to profitably refine, fuel and move hydrocarbons.
Nalco also focuses on ethylene and butadiene plant optimisation through proprietary fouling, corrosion and coking control technology, acid gas removal optimisation, cooling tower and boiler treatment, and antifoams.
Nalco
Strategy & Financial Highlights
Nalco has implemented a three-part strategy with the goal of achieving strong long-term organic growth of better than 5%, 10% growth in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and free cash flow improvement of greater than 30%. Its three strategic objectives remain unchanged: generating organic growth, improving work processes and building alternate channels to market. (Edited from: “Letter from the chairman”). ICIS also provides you with key financial data listed in table form.
More about Nalco Strategy & Financial Highlights
News:
Get news on Nalco plus the latest chemical news, information, data, market movements and analysis
in one place with ICIS news
Newsletters:
ICIS offers a range of FREE e-newsletters to ensure that you don't miss out on the latest development and key market intelligence in your industry. If you want the latest news sent to your inbox, sign up for ICIS e-newsletters today.