65 Years and Still Going Strong Culligan Glides Into 21st Century.

Business Editors

NORTHBROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2001

Culligan International Company recently celebrated its sixty-fifth birthday. After six and a half decades of being an industry leader, the global water treatment giant has proven that you can "teach an old dog new tricks." In just over one year, the company successfully streamlined its manufacturing, enhanced its production line, and improved quality control throughout the entire Northbrook operation. So what helped Culligan change its pace? A combination of people, technology, and processes.

A little over a year ago, Culligan's new management team was faced with one of its most daunting, yet rewarding, challenges - to turn the 65-year-old Northbrook facility into a lean, mean manufacturing machine. The team's approach included naming a new vice president of Northbrook's operations, revamping the middle management team, implementing sound engineering and manufacturing principles, redesigning the distribution portion of the business, and generally enhancing accountability and customer focus.

In the plant, an elimination of temporary workers resulted in greater accountability and increased quality. Engineers are now responsible for a specific category of products and work with an assigned team. Teams post daily efficiencies for their workstation and are accountable for quality before sending a part on to the next workstation.

New machines and tooling, which include precision automation equipment and injection molding tools, enable the facility to operate more efficiently. In addition, as a result of the Northbrook operation's two fairly new, compressed, state-of-the-art assembly lines, the time it takes to build a control has been significantly reduced.

Steps have also been taken to make employees more aware of safety issues at Culligan's Northbrook headquarters, including monitoring employees' adherence to the rules and prominently posting safety rate results. Further quality control improvements made include all subcomponents and final products being tested more extensively before they ever leave the factory. Last and most important, everyone has recognized that customer satisfaction is the ultimate measurement of success.

When asked for his thoughts on the many manufacturing and shipping improvements made, Mike Reardon, Culligan's president and chief operating officer, said, "Culligan's entire Northbrook Operations team has done a phenomenal job in improving the entire operation. The time and dedication they've devoted to bettering the Culligan business will benefit consumers and our dealers for years to come."

Culligan manufactures and distributes bottled water and water treatment products for retail, household, and commercial applications worldwide. A division of USFilter that comprises global water and wastewater treatment leader Vivendi Water, Culligan is among the most widely recognized brand names in the world, having been in business since 1936. Vivendi Water is owned by Vivendi Environment, which is the largest environmental services company in the world with annual revenues of more than $23 billion. For more information, Culligan invites you to visit its website at www.culligan.com as well as those of USFilter (www.usfilter.com) and Vivendi (www.vivendi.com).

Important Disclaimer. This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations or beliefs and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: acquisition related risks, inability to further identify, develop and achieve success for new products, services and technologies; increased competition and its effect on pricing, spending, third-party relationships and revenues; inability to establish and maintain relationships with commerce, advertising, marketing, technology, and content providers. Investors and security holders are urged to read Vivendi's Registration Statement on Amendment No. 1 to Form 20-F, the Vivendi Universal joint proxy statement/prospectus and other documents filed by Vivendi Universal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at the Commission's web site at www.sec.gov. These documents may also be obtained for free from Vivendi Universal.