Univar Adds New Territories in EMEA for Distribution of Dow Corning Coatings

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands – April 2, 2012 – Univar Inc., a leading global chemical distributor today announced it has expanded its long-standing European distribution relationship with Dow Corning Europe SA to include distribution of Dow Corning’s coatings products range in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. Univar has been distributing Dow Corning’s full coatings product range in most Western European countries for more than 20 years. Following the expansion of the relationship in 2011 to include the additional geographies of Austria, Turkey, the Baltic region, Central and Eastern Europe, and South Africa, both companies explored opportunities to grow the scope of their distribution relationship even further.

Dow Corning’s coatings products range is based primarily around silicone additives and binders, which have a variety of applications including in industrial paints, inks, varnishes, and decorative paints. Univar already has a significant coatings business in the territories covered by the expanded distribution relationship and will be able to introduce Dow Corning’s coatings products to an existing client base immediately.

“We are delighted to expand our distribution relationship with Univar to include these growth markets in the Middle East,” says Chris Wall, global market manager coatings, Dow Corning. “We have been impressed by the depth of knowledge demonstrated by Univar’s EMEA Coatings team, which extends beyond traditional technical and formulation support, to include detailed insight into the industry’s market trends and regulatory demands. As Univar offers high quality services across the Middle East, as it does in the rest of the world, international and local customers in the region will be able to take advantage of the company’s global strength, expertise and aligned business processes.”

“This is a major step forward, further expanding our distribution relationship with Dow Corning for our coatings business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, enabling us to provide the latest innovations and solutions to our customers,” explains Marc Démoulin, Coatings and Adhesives industry director EMEA, Univar. “This expansion of our distribution relationship will reinforce our presence in the EMEA region and is a base for potential further portfolio growth. Together, we combine Dow Corning’s coatings products and Univar’s service to deliver exceptional value in this dynamic, growth region.”