Borealis and Ashland Distribution celebrate 10 years of partnership in Europe

23.10.2006

Borealis and Ashland Distribution are celebrating the success of their 10 year partnership in dealing with distribution customers of Borealis-produced polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) in Europe. This first pan-European polyolefin distribution partnership has allowed Borealis to increase its responsiveness towards smaller and mid-size customers by ensuring quick delivery from a single local source. Over the last decade, the distribution agreement has been expanded to include new products such as Borealis’ Borstar polypropylene and polyethylene solutions.

Currently, Ashland distributes more than 500 Borealis products to over 3,000 customers throughout Europe. These solutions mainly serve the advanced packaging market but also include the automotive and infrastructure sectors. The partnership’s continued success over the last 10 years has been the result of notable improvements including the centralisation and automation of transactional processes and the improved alignment of marketing activities. “As a result of this partnership, Borealis’ distribution customers profit from fast response times through Ashland’s local sales organization and technical support as well as Borealis’ focus on innovation and development of added value solutions which ultimately benefit all our customers,” comments David Rolph, Borealis Executive Vice President Polyolefins. “We have experienced a successful period with Borealis over the last decade of which our increasing customer base, served by Borealis solutions, is the ultimate proof. We are looking forward to continuing this successful relationship in the future,” according to Steve Fazakas, Vice President International Distribution of Ashland.

Borealis has more than 40 years experience in providing advanced polyolefin solutions for infrastructure, packaging and transport industries. With foresight throughout the value chain and a focus on customer needs, Borealis continues to provide innovative, value creating PP and PE solutions. Ashland Distribution works closely with the top suppliers in the industry, providing a broad range of the world’s leading thermoplastics. This business specializes in providing everything from pallets to full truckload quantities to customers in a wide range of industries. Additionally, Ashland Distribution offers a full complement of application development and technical support services.

For further information please contact:

Liesbeth Denys
Trade Media Relations Manager, Borealis
+32 15 47 90 24
lypresbo@borealisgroup.com

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative, value creating plastics solutions. With more than 40 years of experience in the polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) business, we focus on pipe systems, energy and communications cables, automotive and advanced packaging markets. We are strong in Europe and growing in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific through Borouge, our joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Our technology makes an essential contribution to the society in which we live. We are committed to lead the way in ‘Shaping the Future with Plastics’.

Ashland Distribution, a division of Ashland Inc., is a leading distributor of chemicals, plastics, composite materials and environmental services in North America, Canada and Europe. Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH), a diversified, global chemical company, provides quality products, services and solutions to customers in more than 100 countries. A FORTUNE 500 company, it operates through four wholly owned divisions: Ashland Performance Materials, Ashland Distribution, Valvoline and Ashland Water Technologies.
Learn more about Ashland at www.ashland.com

Borstar is the proprietary process technology supporting differentiated PE and PP products and is a registered trademark of Borealis A/S, Denmark.

Fortune 500 is a registered trademark of Time, Inc.