The industrial-strength version of S.C. Johnson & Son, JohnsonDiversey split from the well-known company in 1999 to make commercial cleaning, hygiene, pest control, and food sanitation products for retailers, building service contractors, hospitality firms, and foodservice operators. It operates 31 manufacturing facilities in almost 25 countries. JohnsonDiversey also provides safety and application training, safety and hygiene consulting, and hygiene auditing. It's the #2 global industrial and institutional cleaning products company behind Ecolab. Europe represents more than half of the firm's sales, which span some 160 countries. The Johnson family controls two-thirds of the company; Unilever controls the rest.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? Silver (recycled) from X-rays and photowaste turns plants green all in a row. Itronics operates its two business segments through subsidiaries. Itronics Metallurgical recycles photochemicals and turns the results into its GOLD'n GRO animal repellent and liquid fertilizer. GOLD'n GRO products are sold primarily in the western US. Another subsidiary, Whitney & Whitney, provides mineral planning and technical services (mineral economics, geologic studies, and project management services) to the mining industry.

Evonik Industries evidently decided it no longer wanted to get its hands dirty. The enterprise was cut out from RAG, leaving the coal business with that company and taking RAG's former subsidiaries Degussa (chemicals and plastics), STEAG (power generation), and Wohnen (real estate). Degussa operates globally and across multiple chemical platforms; it accounts for about three-quarters of Evonik's business. STEAG operates power generation plants, both in Germany and abroad in Colombia, the Philippines, and Turkey. Evonik's real estate operations include 60,000 housing units in Germany. Investment firm CVC Capital Partners owns a 25% stake in the company.

Jacob Stern & Sons, which primarily operates through subsidiary Acme-Hardesty, is a global oleochemicals and agricultural products distributor. Acme-Hardesty distributes an array of oil- and fat-based chemicals, as well as flavor and fragrance ingredients and industrial chemical products. Its customers include manufacturers of adhesives, coatings, lubricants, soaps, food, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. In addition to the chemicals it gets domestically, Acme-Hardesty's oleochemicals are imported from Asia, the Middle East, and South America.

Headquartered in France with operations in more than 70 countries, state-owned SNPE has its fingers in a lot of pies: energetic materials (propellants for car airbags and propulsion for rockets); fine chemicals for pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and other uses; and specialty chemicals used in such applications as explosives, inks, fuel additives, and nail polishes. SNPE's subsidiaries and operating units include Bergerac NC (specialty chemicals), Isochem (fine chemicals), and SNPE Mat鲩aux Energ鴩ques (energetic materials). That last unit also owns, with joint-venture partner MBDA , solid rocket motor maker Roxel.

Compass Minerals International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the production and marketing of inorganic mineral products in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company operates in two segments, Salt and Specialty Fertilizer. The Salt segment produces salt and magnesium chloride for use in road deicing and dust control, food processing, water softeners, pool salt, and agricultural and industrial applications. This segment also purchases potassium chloride and sells as a finished product. The Specialty Fertilizer segment produces and markets potash crop nutrients and industrial grade sulfate of potash, which are used in the production of specialty fertilizers for vegetables, fruits, tea, potatoes, nuts, tobacco, and turf grass. The company operates a rock salt mine located in Goderich, Ontario; and the salt mine located in Winsford, the United Kingdom. It primarily serves producers of intermediate chemical products used in the production of vinyls and other chemicals, and pulp and paper, as well as water treatment and other industrial uses. The company markets its products through a direct sales force, and a network of brokers. It was formerly known as Salt Holdings Corporation and changed its name to Compass Minerals International, Inc. in November 2003. Compass Minerals International was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.

Chem-Pak packs a chemical punch into its private-label products. The company provides contract chemical manufacturing services for specialty coatings, cleaners, paints, music accessories (instrument cleaners), lubricants, and degreasers. Chem-Pak also provides packaging services for steel aerosol cans and specialty filling of aluminum tubes, pails, and drums. It operates from a facility in West Virginia.

Avecia has become dependent on pharmaceuticals, and it doesn't want to kick the habit. After much pruning, the specialty and fine chemicals maker has two main segments: oligomedicines and biologics. The biologics unit, based in the UK, develops microbial and human therapeutic proteins. The other business segment provides oligonucleotide products for all stages of production: pre-clinical, clinical, and post launch. This oligomedicines unit is headquartered in Massachusetts. In the latter half of the decade the company began a reorganization that involved selling off its chemicals unit that made products for laser printers and copiers and intermediates for pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals.

Penford Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of specialty natural-based ingredient systems for various industrial and food applications in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. It develops and manufactures ingredients with starch as a base. The starch products are manufactured primarily from corn, potatoes, and wheat, and are used as binders and coatings in paper and food production. The various forms of starches include ethylated, oxidized, and cationic. The ethylated and oxidized starches are used in coatings and as binders, providing printability to fine white, magazine, and catalog paper. Cationic and other liquid starches are used in the paper forming process in paper production, providing bonding of paper fibers and other ingredients. Penford sells its products through a direct sales force, as well as through distributor agreements. The company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.

Valhi, Inc is a Delaware corporation that has operations through majority-owned subsidiaries or less than majority-owned affiliates. Valhi’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “VHI.” See the disclosure in Valhi’s latest Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10Q and Proxy Statement (see the SEC Filings section of this website) for a recent description of Valhi’s operations and ownership structure.Valhi Inc. is considered a controlled company under the listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange. Pursuant to the listing standards, a controlled company may choose not to have a majority of independent directors, independent compensation, nominating or corporate governance committees or charters for these committees. Valhi has chosen not to have a majority of independent directors or an independent nominating or corporate governance committee.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.