Ashland announces strategic alliance with Acell S.r.l.

DUBLIN, Ohio – Ashland Performance Materials, a commercial unit of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH), today announced the formation of a strategic alliance with Acell S.r.l., based in Milan, Italy, to foster North American market development for Acell’s SMC-based sandwich panel processing technology.

The Acell foam and processing technology offers fabricators an opportunity to compete in new applications requiring panel technology, such as entry doors, exterior sheathing for commercial buildings or residential roofing. The panels can be tailored any number of ways offering great weathering, strength, insulating properties and fire resistance among other benefits with minimal capital investment.

“We are excited to partner with Acell as part of our ongoing efforts to grow the composites industry in North America,” said Mike Wallenhorst, director of Product Management for Ashland Performance Materials. “Their technologies have tremendous promise for converting applications from traditional materials to composites, especially in building and construction markets.”

Under terms of the alliance agreement, Acell will partner with Ashland to identify new customers and market opportunities in North America. “We have had good success in Europe and felt it was time to expand in to North America,” said Michael Frieh, Acell commercial director. “Acell won the award for Best Process at the ACMA Composites show in 2011 and this is where we first met the Ashland team. We were impressed by their ability to understand why the process would work and how the technology would fit in the American market. As we looked for a good partner, it became clear that Ashland had the vision, personnel, facilities and overall presence we needed to enter the North American market successfully.”

Ashland Performance Materials is the global leader in unsaturated polyester resins and vinyl ester resins. In addition, it provides customers with leading technologies in gelcoats, pressure-sensitive and structural adhesives, coatings and elastomers.

In more than 100 countries, the people of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) provide the specialty chemicals, technologies and insights to help customers create new and improved products for today and sustainable solutions for tomorrow. Our chemistry is at work every day in a wide variety of markets and applications, including architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, food and beverage, personal care, pharmaceutical, tissue and towel, and water treatment. Visit www.ashland.com to see the innovations we offer through our four commercial units—Ashland Specialty Ingredients, Ashland Water Technologies, Ashland Performance Materials and Ashland Consumer Markets.

About Acell
Acell’s first major invention involved the creation of a family of fire resistant foams known industrially as Acell, tailored to provide the specific characteristics needed by the user. Acell foam forms a monoblock composite when integrated and surfaced with glass reinforced resins to provide panels with structural integrity. The Acell SMC based sandwich panel process, enables products to be made in a one step molding operation thus removing the need of glue lines and finishing operations. The resulting composite panel made by the use of the Acell SMC process produces a monolithic panel with exceptional structural performance, insulation and acoustic properties. Visit www.acelltec.com to see the Acell SMC process and to appreciate some example of products made using the Acell process.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Media Relations
Karen Barnish
+1 614-790-4025
kbarnish@ashland.com