Akzo Nobel Inks Acquires Werneke Ink Companies.

LANGHORNE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 9, 1998--Akzo Nobel Inks Corp. has acquired the assets and business operations of three privately held ink companies with headquarters in Minnesota, California and the United Kingdom. Louis O. Werneke Company, Werneke & Mulheran, Inc. and Label Inks Limited are all companies whose controlling shareholders are Louis O. Werneke and other Werneke family members. Louis O. Werneke is a well known figure in the printing ink industry since starting the business over 20 years ago. Mr. Werneke based his company on environmentally friendly products specializing in water based and ultra violet curable inks for the narrow web market.

According to Jorgen Doose, President of Akzo Nobel Inks Corp., "The acquisition will triple our size in the United States and position us as a leading supplier of water based and UV curable inks for the tag and label market and some specialty markets."

Through an extensive distribution network the new organization can locally service the needs for a broad range of inks and coatings for multiple printing processes, such as UV curable inks for letterpress, offset, screen, and flexo in addition to a comprehensive selection of water based inks.

Akzo Nobel, headquartered in Arnhem, The Netherlands, is a market driven and technology based company, serving customers throughout the world with health care products, coatings, chemicals and fibers. The company employs 70,000 people and has activities in 60 countries. In 1997, consolidated sales were approximately $12 billion (24 billion NLG). In North America the company employs more than 9,000 employees and has sales of approximately $3 billion. The company's ADRs are traded on NASDAQ under the AKZOY symbol.

For more information contact our Marketing Department.

    CONTACT: Akzo Nobel Inc.
              Nick Sommers, 312/906-7612
     URL:     http://www.akzonobel.com