Dow's OPTIM Glycerine Business To Be Repositioned Into SAFECHEM

Horgen, Switzerland - The Dow Chemical Company announced its decision to reposition its OPTIM glycerine products under the Specialty Chemicals portfolio with marketing and sales handled by its customer-oriented service company SAFECHEM Europe GmbH, based in Düsseldorf, Germany. OPTIM will continue to be produced in Stade, Germany, ensuring that customers will continue to enjoy consistent production of high quality and high purity OPTIM glycerine according to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). SAFECHEM will serve customers on a global scale directly and via a network of authorized distributors.

This move underscores Dow's strategic agenda to accelerate the growth of its Performance businesses by leveraging expertise to deliver a value-adding and customer-focused approach to the marketplace. The change in business approach results from Dow's strategic evaluation of its OPTIM synthetic glycerine business over the past year. "As the leading producer of synthetic glycerine, Dow remains committed to the product and its customers," says Karl Stuetzle, SAFECHEM's General Manager.

"The high purity at constant quality levels of OPTIM glycerine presents distinct advantages over natural glycerine in specialized end applications," adds Stuetzle. "With its strong solution-oriented marketing experience and capabilities, SAFECHEM will provide a sustainable approach to meeting steadily increasing demand for best quality glycerine and advancing the use of synthetic glycerine in specialized markets." SAFECHEM has appointed Steffen Saecker as Marketing Manager with marketing and sales responsibilities for OPTIM glycerine.

SAFECHEM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company with expertise in developing and delivering innovative, customer-oriented specialty chemical solutions for applications that demand the highest quality, consistency, and safety in use. SAFECHEM's expertise is also important to monitoring and maintaining good manufacturing practices (GMP) handling.

Sales and marketing responsibilities were transitioned to SAFECHEM in November 2006. The complete order, sales and delivery process will be transferred to SAFECHEM as a next step in 2007.

OPTIM glycerine is high-purity synthetic glycerine used for the specialized needs of pharmaceutical, personal care and food applications, among others where high quality is the major requirement.

SOURCE; Dow Chemical Company