LaRoche Industries Sells Aluminas Business to UOP.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 1999--

LaRoche Industries Inc. announced today that it has sold its aluminas business to UOP LLC for an undisclosed sum. The sale includes the Baton Rouge manufacturing facility, the full alumina product line, including LaRoche's proprietary Versal(tm) aluminas, and LaRoche's 50% interest in the CRILAR joint venture with Criterion Catalysts Company LP.

"We've significantly enhanced our specialty aluminas products and production processes over the past 10 years, and this business will provide an excellent complement to UOP's current adsorbent and catalyst offerings," said Bud Ingalls, president and chief executive officer of LaRoche Industries. "For LaRoche, the sale is consistent with our strategy to increase our presence in our principal markets of nitrogen and electrochemical products."

"This transaction combines LaRoche's strengths as a manufacturer of specialty aluminas with UOP's adsorbent application knowledge, worldwide marketing presence and technical service capabilities," said York Doerr, vice president of UOP's adsorbents business. "This addition further broadens UOP's capabilities as a supplier of `separation-based solutions' to its customers. In addition, the Versal line expands UOP's role as a supplier of catalyst base material to manufacturers of automotive, chemical and refining catalysts."

The business unit employs approximately 120 people, the majority of whom are located at the Baton Rouge site. Key business and marketing personnel located at LaRoche's Atlanta headquarters will be offered positions at UOP's headquarters in Des Plaines, IL.

The Baton Rouge facility will be UOP's sixth plant engaged in the production of adsorbents and related products. Other UOP adsorbent manufacturing plants are located in Mobile, Alabama; Reggio Calabria, Italy; and Leverkusen, Germany, and joint venture plants are in Shanghai, China and Yokkaichi, Japan.

UOP LLC, headquartered in Des Plaines, Illinois, USA, is a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, process plants, and technical services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries.

Founded in 1986, LaRoche Industries Inc. is a worldwide producer and distributor of nitrogen-based, chlor-alkali, and fluorocarbon chemical products, with facilities located across the United States, Germany and France.