Ecolab Inc.: Тарихы мен даму жолы

American corporation
the consolidated history of the 1986 established Ecolab Inc.; including its foundation in 1923 as Economics Laboratory, and the acquisition of Nalco in 2011

Ecolab Inc. is an American corporation headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It develops and offers services, technology and systems that specialize in treatment, purification, cleaning and hygiene of water in a wide variety of applications. It helps organizations, both in private as well as public markets, treat their water for drinking use and for use in food, healthcare, hospitality related safety and industry. Founded as Economics Laboratory in 1923 by Merritt J. Osborn, it was eventually renamed "Ecolab" in 1986.

In 1986, the company changed its name from Economics Laboratory to Ecolab Inc. and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1987, the company formed a textile care division. In 1987, Ecolab purchased the lawncare servicer provider ChemLawn for $376 million. It sold the acquisition in 1992 to ServiceMaster for $103 million as it couldn't turn ChemLawn into a profitable business. Ecolab continued to acquire companies in the 1990s, including Kay Chemical (1993), Australia based Gibson Chemical Industries Ltd (1997), and GCS Service Inc (1998).

In the mid 2000s, strategic acquisitions continued, and Ecolab diversified its portfolio of customer offerings by venturing into the food safety management business as well as a healthcare business unit. In 2004, Douglas M. Baker, Jr. was named chief executive officer. In 2006, he also was named chairman of Ecolab's board of directors. In 2005, the company opened a new global research, development, and engineering center in Eagan, Minnesota. In 2007, Ecolab acquired Microtek Medical Holdings, Inc., expanding its infection prevention expertise and offerings to hospitals and other healthcare facilities. In 2008, Henkel sold all of the 73 million shares, nearly a 29.5% stake it held in Ecolab, ending the two decade long partnership. The same year, Ecolab established Zürich as its Europe, the Middle East and Africa headquarters. The $2.2 billion transaction closed in April 2013. In November 2014, Ecolab, working with TruCost, launched the Water Risk Monetizer. It provides an online, no cost financial modeling tool to assess and monetize the risk of water scarcity. In November 2015, for $40.5 million, Ecolab acquired the U. S. operations of Swisher Hygiene, which provides hygiene and sanitizing solutions for the foodservice, hospitality, retail and healthcare markets. In June 2016, Ecolab announced plans to acquire Laboratoires Anios, a leading European manufacturer and marketer of hygiene and disinfection products for the healthcare, food service, and food and beverage markets. Based in Lille, France, Anios served customers in 85 countries and had 2015 sales of approximately $245 million. The $800 million transaction closed on February 1, 2017. In July 2016, Ecolab made a minority investment in Aquatech International, LLC of an undisclosed amount. In August 2016, the company opened a Latin America regional headquarters in Miramar, Florida. In October 2016, Ecolab acquired the assets of UltraClenz, a developer of electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring systems and dispensers. In March 2018, Bill Gates purchased $230 million in additional shares of Ecolab via Cascade Investments. In Oct 2019, Ecolab acquired an Australian company Gallay Medical & Scientific who is a leader in providing medical devices, equipment, chemistry and service to the medical, dental, scientific and pharmaceutical industries. In October 2020, Christophe Beck was named the next CEO of Ecolab, effective January 1, 2021. In October 2021, Ecolab acquired Purolite, a provider of ion exchange resins for biopharmaceutical purification for approximately $3.7 billion. In August 2022, Bill Gates purchased additional stock through Cascade, though his overall stake dropped to 11%.

Ecolab helps organizations treat their water in industries including food, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing.