R.T. Vanderbilt Company, Inc - New organisation structure and major expansion

R.T. Vanderbilt Company, Inc. has announced important business changes including the completion of an expansion project and the development of new business-focused subsidiaries.

To support the future growth and focus of the company, the company has reorganised its North American operations around three new wholly owned subsidiaries.

The reorganised structure will introduce vertically integrated businesses that are better equipped to meet customer needs and position the company for market growth - both through mergers and acquisitions and organically. The new operating organisations will align the key customer-facing functions (sales, customer service, technical support and supply chain) under new business leaders to deliver more focused efforts on their respective markets and customer results.

Non-customer-facing functions (treasury, accounting, IT, product assurance and HR) will be organised as a shared services entity delivering improved effectiveness and efficiencies to its internal customers. These changes are expected to position each business group for market flexibility and stronger growth.

"R.T. Vanderbilt's new organisational structure will allow us to concentrate and grow our businesses in our traditional areas of strength, including chemicals and minerals," commented president and COO Roger Price. "These changes will capture the momentum that our company has already seen in these markets, and provide new opportunities for us to demonstrate our commitments to providing unequalled value in our products and services."

The reorganisation will result in the following structural changes:

• R. T. Vanderbilt Holding Company, Inc. - new parent company for all wholly owned subsidiaries listed below.
• Vanderbilt Chemicals LLC - new operating entity that will include the North American operations of the company's manufactured and resale chemical business serving the rubber, plastics and petroleum markets.
• Vanderbilt Minerals LLC - new operating entity that will include the North American operations of the company's industrial and speciality minerals business serving the life sciences, coatings, ceramics and agricultural markets.
• Vanderbilt Global Services LLC - new shared services entity that will provide support to the operating businesses.
• Vanderbilt International SARL - an existing Swiss entity that will continue to provide marketing and technical support services to the chemicals and minerals businesses in EMEA (Europe, Africa, Middle East and Russia).
• Vanderbilt (Beijing) Trading Ltd - an existing China entity that will continue to provide marketing and technical support services to the chemicals and minerals businesses in China.

Senior leadership, ownership and the financial strength of R.T. Vanderbilt will not change as a result of the reorganisation, and the new business groups will operate as divisions within the overall company.

Additionally, R.T. Vanderbilt's previously announced $30 million expansion project at the company's chemical facility in Murray, Kentucky, US, will be completed by the summer of 2013. Completion of this project will significantly increase capacity and capabilities for future growth of its chemical products and add automated packaging capabilities to the VEEGUM product line.

R.T. Vanderbilt, headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, operates two chemical manufacturing plants in the US in Bethel, Connecticut, and Murray, Kentucky, and also is a distributor of chemicals and polymers for many large suppliers. The company additionally operates mines in various locations throughout the US to provide kaolin clay, bentonite, pyrophyllite, wollastonite and other processing aids for industrial and life science applications. The company, founded in 1916, recently celebrated its 96th anniversary.