Ecolab Forms Strategic Water Care Alliance with Pentair, Inc.

    Business Editors

    ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 16, 2005--Ecolab Inc. announced today it has entered into a strategic alliance with Golden Valley, Minn.-based Pentair, Inc., to provide best-in-class water care programs to the foodservice and hospitality markets.
    The partnership joins Ecolab's world-class sales-and-service organization with Pentair's industry-leading filtration technologies and water conditioning systems.
    "The strength of Pentair's knowledge, research and development for the water industry is unprecedented in the marketplace," said Tracy Crocker, Ecolab's vice president of Emerging Businesses. "By combining the breadth and depth of Pentair's product lines with Ecolab's sales, marketing and service capabilities, as well as our existing water business, we can offer the best water solutions for our customers."
    The alliance aims to enhance the guest experience for customers by improving the quality of water used for beverages, ice and as a cooking ingredient. In addition, the partnership will improve customer operations by reducing costs related to scale and corrosion caused by poor water quality, thereby reducing downtime and energy consumption, as well as increasing equipment life.
    "The synergy of this partnership offers great opportunity for our customers, encompassing the areas of water filtration, point-of-use water conditioning and point-of-entry water softening," said Dan Flesher, vice president of Water Management Solutions for Ecolab's Institutional Division. "In addition, the companies will jointly explore other areas of water technology that impact Ecolab customers. In essence, our partnership allows us to provide solutions to our customers' water problems from the water meter to the drain."
    As the first step of the strategic partnership, Ecolab will immediately begin servicing existing Pentair Everpure(R) filtration systems through a co-branded replacement filter program. Ecolab will also enhance its existing FresH2O(TM) water filtration program with Pentair technologies.
    With 2004 sales of $4.2 billion, Ecolab is the leading global developer and marketer of premium cleaning, sanitizing, pest elimination, maintenance and repair products for the hospitality, foodservice, institutional and industrial markets. Ecolab shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ECL.
    Ecolab news releases and other investor information are available on the Internet at www.ecolab.com.

    NOTE TO EDITORS: The "2" in the product name "FresH2O" should appear as subscript. This font does not appear properly in some systems.

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CONTACT: Ecolab Inc., St. Paul Dan Flesher, 651-293-2874

KEYWORD: MINNESOTA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: CHEMICALS/PLASTICS TRAVEL RESTAURANTS FOODS/BEVERAGES RETAIL MARKETING AGREEMENTS SOURCE: Ecolab Inc.

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