Chemicals

Olin Corporate Office

Olin Corporation was founded in 1892 by Franklin Walter Odin. The company manufactures ammunition, chlorine, and sodium hydroxide.

The company has a long history of mishaps and malfunctions, which endangers the lives of those who live near or work at company plants.

Olin Corporation has expanded via the acquisition of other companies.

In May 2007, Olin agreed to buy Pioneer Co. Inc., a chlor-alkali products maker, for $414 million.

In 2010, an equipment failure at the asbestos-producing McIntosh plant released caustic soda into the atmosphere. Residents claim that the plant frequently releases chlorine into the atmosphere while also complaining that they are not adequately informed of the leaks and possible dangers.

In December 2022, workers in Alabama claimed that they were regularly exposed to asbestos for long periods of time without the company informing them of the dangers or the exposure.

Olin Corporation is listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol OLN.

Olin maintains a corporate office in Clayton, Missouri.

BASF Corporate Office

BASF can trace its roots back to 1865 when Friedrich Engelhorn started producing electricity and natural gas for the town of Mannheim in German-speaking Baden. BASF is the initials for Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik (Badin Anilin and Soda Factory in English). Tar was a natural by-product of the natural gas process, which Engelhorn used to make dyes. BASF was created for the production of chemicals needed to create the dyes.

On 28 July 1948, an explosion occurred at a BASF site in Ludwigshafen, killing 207 people and injuring 3818. In the 1950s, BASF added synthetics such as nylon to its product range. The company had already developed polystyrene in the 1930s and invented Styropor in 1951.

Today, BASF is the largest chemical producer in the world, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in at least 80 countries, and customers in more than 190 countries. Despite its size, the company receives very little attention since it stopped manufacturing and producing products with the BASF name or logo.

In July 2019, the company announced that there would be a lower profit margin for stockholders due to slowing markets from cars to crops and the impact of the U.S.-China trade war.

In November 2019, Lone Star Funds was reportedly having exclusive talks with BASF about possibly acquiring the company’s construction chemical division.

Headquarters for the North American division of BASF are located in Florham Park, New Jersey.

Unilever Corporate Office

Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch company that provides consumer goods and food products to customers around the world. The company is the third largest consumer goods company in the world, as of 2012. Unilever has more than 400 brands, however, the top 14 of them account for $14.1 billion in sales, worldwide, each year.

Unilever was founded in 1930 by the British soap makers, Lever Brothers, and Dutch margarine producers Margarine Unie. Today, the company is divided into 4 divisions, Refreshments, Foods, Personal Care and Home Care. The company has research and development labs in the United Kingdom, China, India, the U.S., and the Netherlands.

Unilever is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol: UN. It is also listed on the London Exchange as well as the Euronext Amsterdam. The company has more than 172,000 employees and had annual revenue in 2015 of more than $63.5 billion.

Valhi Corporate Office

Valhi was created by the merger of LLC Corporation and a subsidiary of Contran Corporation in 1987.

Today the company, through its subsidiaries, works in the real estate, chemicals, waste management, and component products businesses.

One subsidiary, Kronos, which is operated through the NL Industries unit, is a leading manufacturer of titanium dioxide pigment. This pigment is used to whiten paper, fibers, plastic, and paint.

Other subsidiaries include Waste Control Specialists, Tremont, and CompX.

Valhi trades publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol VHI, is #982 in the Fortune 1000, has 3,210 employees, and had $1.86 billion in revenue in 2014.

Cytec Industries Corporate Office

Cytec Industries was founded in 1993 when it was spun-off from American Cyanamid Company.

The company develops, manufactures, and markets specialty materials and chemicals to clients in the aerospace, mining, industrial materials, and plastics industries. Clients are located in North America, Latin America, Asia/Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Cytec operates through four divisions: Aerospace Materials, Industrial Materials, In Process Separation, and Additive Technologies.

Cytec Industries trades publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CYT, is a member of the S&P 400, is #887 in the Fortune 1000, has 4,600 employees, and had $2.01 billion in revenue in 2014.