Ashland Global Specialty Chemicals Inc. is an American chemical company which operates in more than 100 countries. Headquartered in
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
, the company traces its roots back to the city of
Ashland, Kentucky
Ashland is a home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The largest city in Boyd County, Ashland is located upon a southern bank of the Ohio River at the state border with Ohio and near West Virginia. The population was 21,6 ...
, where it was headquartered from 1924 to 1999. The company currently has five wholly owned divisions, which include Chemical Intermediates and Solvents, Composites, Industrial Specialties, Personal and Home Care, & Pharmaceuticals, Food and Beverage, and Agriculture. Until 2017, the company was the primary manufacturer of
Valvoline
Valvoline Inc. is an American manufacturer and distributor of Valvoline-brand automotive oil, additives, and lubricants. It also owns the Valvoline Instant Oil Change and Valvoline Express Care chains of car repair centers. , it is the second ...
.
History
Founding and early years
Ashland was founded in 1924 as the Ashland Refining Company in
Catlettsburg, Kentucky, by
Paul G. Blazer
Paul Garrett Blazer (September 19, 1890 – December 9, 1966) was President and CEO of Ashland Oil and Refining Company (Ashland, Inc.) located in Ashland, Kentucky.
Early life
Blazer was born on September 19, 1890, in New Boston, Illinois to Pre ...
.
In October 1923, J. Fred Miles of the Swiss Oil
Company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
of
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
employed Paul G. Blazer and assigned him the task of locating, purchasing and operating a refinery in northeastern Kentucky. Blazer selected a location on the banks of the
Big Sandy River approximately two miles south of the
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
near the community of
Leach Station. One mile south of the city of Catlettsburg, the site contained an existing refinery which was purchased by Blazer which had been in operation since 1916. The Catlettsburg site was advantageous due to its location near the Ohio River and offered an efficient means of transportation for the fledgling company. With funds supplied by Swiss Oil, Blazer arranged to buy, at a price of $212,500, the small unprofitable 1,000 barrel per day refinery of Great Eastern Refining Company which had been owned by coal operators in Huntington, West Virginia. With the purchase of the refinery came a small towboat and oil barge.
On February 2, 1924, Alvin and three Swiss Oil executives incorporated Ashland Refining Company, with a capital of $250,000. They took over the operations of the
Catlettsburg Refinery
The Catlettsburg Refinery is an American oil refinery. It is located in northeastern Kentucky, at the intersection of Interstate 64 and U.S. Route 23 in Catlettsburg, Kentucky near the cities of Ashland, Kentucky and Huntington, West Virginia. ...
which had twenty-five employees who were working seven days per week and twelve hours per day. Blazer moved from Lexington to Ashland. The only member of the Swiss Oil organization to come to Ashland with Blazer was Ashland Refining Company's first treasurer, William Waples.
Ashland's refinery operations in Catlettsburg proved to be successful even from the very first month. Wages were increased and the hours of work were reduced. After making repairs and purchasing some new, modern equipment, the refinery soon had output of 500,000 barrels a year (1370 barrels per day) and sales of $1,300,000. In only a few years, the Ashland Refining Company began to show larger returns than the parent company.
Ashland Refining Co. grew rapidly through both internal expansion and acquisitions including Union Gas and Oil Company (1925), Tri-State Refining Company (1930), and Cumberland Pipeline Company (1931).
By 1933, Ashland Refining Company owned more than 1,000 wells, 800 miles of pipelines, bulk distribution plants in twelve cities, service stations, river transportation terminals and river equipment. In 1936, under Blazer's leadership, the company's ownership changed from Swiss Oil to the Ashland Oil and Refining Company shareholder group and was headquartered in Ashland, Kentucky. Blazer was appointed chief executive officer of the company.
Blazer's success as manager was recognized by major stockholders. They gave him the power to run Ashland as his own operation, though at no point during his tenure as chief executive officer (1936–1957) did he own a controlling interest in the company.
Blazer's philosophy of supporting the well-being of company employees was evident early on. Two of his early changes were offering employees' sick leave with full pay, and in 1947 the introduction of an employee profit-sharing plan. This move made the company one of the first in the region to offer such benefits. Blazer supported creative arts and invited nearby Greenup County educator and internationally acclaimed author
Jesse Stuart
Jesse may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Jesse (biblical figure), father of David in the Bible.
* Jesse (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Jesse (surname), a list of people
Music
* ''Jesse'' ( ...
to open each annual meeting with a story, a poem, or a bit of humor. He also was a pastor at his local church.
Post-World War II
After the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Ashland teamed with
Sperry Corporation
Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...
to develop the introduction of radar on commercial river vessels and teamed with various shipyards to develop the integrated tow. The "jumbo" tank barge of 195 ft. by 35 ft. became the industry standard and was used by Ashland. Under Blazer's control, the company grew to become a ''Forbes'' 500 company by relying on barges to bring in
crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
and deliver refined products to independent marketers. In the process, Ashland soon operated the nation's largest inland towing fleet
and in 1953 the
Port of Huntington-Tristate
The Port of Huntington Tri-State, centered on the Ohio River in Huntington, West Virginia, is the second-largest inland port in the United States, and was formerly the largest. It is the largest river port in the state of West Virginia and the 1 ...
exceeded Pittsburgh as the busiest port on the Ohio River
and the busiest inland port in the United States, a title it retains to date.
Ashland Oil & Refining Company also grew through many acquisitions such as the Allied Oil Company (1948), Cleveland and Lakeland Tankers (1948), Aetna Oil Company (1949), Freedom-Valvoline Company (1950), Frontier Oil of Buffalo (1950) and National Refining Company (1950).
By 1953, Ashland Oil and Refining Company had 3,518 miles of crude oil pipelines, 252 miles of product lines, six refineries processing an average of 124,000 barrels a day, operated nine tow boats on the inland waterways, and owned over 100 barges.
Although still involved as chairman of Ashland's Finance Committee and Executive Committee, Blazer stepped down as chief executive officer in 1957.
Louisville Refining Company was purchased in 1959. United Carbon was purchased in 1963.
In 1966, Ashland Oil and Refinery Company Inc.'s sales had grown to $699,000,000.
Diversification continued with the purchase of Warren Brothers in 1966, which later was to become Ashland Paving and Construction. A major leap into the chemical industry occurred in 1967 when Ashland purchased ADM Chemical Group. This chemical distribution segment of the business would go on to be one of the primary functions of the company in the later part of the 20th century. In 1969, the company reorganized to form Ashland Petroleum with
Robert T. McCowan
Robert Taylor McCowan (July 28, 1928 – November 12, 2003) was an American businessman, president of Ashland Petroleum (1974), executive vice chairman of Ashland, Inc.(1980), board of trustees member of the University of Kentucky from 1981 to 1 ...
as its first president, as well as entering into a joint venture in
Coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
under the name
Arch Mineral.
1980s-1990s
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Ashland continued to expand buying The Permian Corporation which it merged with
Scurlock Oil Company
The Scurlock Oil Company was an American oil company, with headquarters located in Houston, Texas.
History
Founded in 1936 by Eddy C. Scurlock, the company was a tank car marketer of petroleum products. It emerged as an important transporter of ...
in 1991 to form a subsidiary known as Scurlock Permian Corporation. In 1992, most of
Unocal
Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...
's chemical distribution business was acquired, making Ashland the top chemical distributor in North America. At this time, the Industrial Chemicals & Solvents (IC&S) division was established. The company's name was changed from "Ashland Oil, Incorporated" to the present "Ashland Inc." in 1995, which noted the reduced importance of oil in the overall business.
In 1998, the petroleum division merged with
Marathon Oil
Marathon Oil Corporation is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration incorporated in Ohio and headquartered in the Marathon Oil Tower in Houston, Texas. A direct descendant of Standard Oil, it also runs international gas operations ...
to form
Marathon Ashland Petroleum, LLC (MAP).
Following that in 1999, Ashland was #102 on the Fortune 200 list of companies when it agreed to sell its Scurlock Permian subsidiary to
Plains All American Pipeline
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. is a master limited partnership engaged in pipeline transport, marketing, and storage of liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum in the United States and Canada. It owns interests in of pipelines, storage capacity ...
and the headquarters were moved from Ashland to
Covington, Kentucky
Covington is a list of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, Kenton County, Kentucky, United States, located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking Rivers. Cincinnati, Ohio, ...
, although the company maintained an office building in Russell, adjacent to Ashland.
A monumental change came in 2005, when Ashland sold its shares of the petroleum joint venture to Marathon Oil,
effectively dissolving the remnants of their petroleum division. After the sale, the company was no longer involved in the refining or marketing of fuels. The
original oil refinery in
Catlettsburg, Kentucky
Catlettsburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The city population was 1,856 at the 2010 census. Catlettsburg is a part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area ...
, is still in operation to date, owned and operated by Marathon. In 2006, Ashland sold APAC (the paving and construction division) to the Oldcastle Materials subsidiary of
Oldcastle Inc. of
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Ireland.
Recent years
Ashland purchased the adhesive and emulsions divisions of
Air Products & Chemicals
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is an American international corporation whose principal business is selling gases and chemicals for industrial uses. Air Products' headquarters is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pen ...
in 2008.
Ashland announced plans to acquire
Hercules Inc.
Hercules, Inc. was a chemical and munitions manufacturing company based in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, incorporated in 1912 as the Hercules Powder Company following the breakup of the DuPont explosives monopoly by the U.S. Circuit ...
on July 11, 2008, for $3.3B.
On November 13, 2008, the transaction was completed.
In July 2010 Ashland merged its foundry chemicals activity with Süd-Chemie of Munich, Germany, to form ASK Chemicals L.P. with headquarters in Dublin, Ohio.
In November 2010 Ashland announced plans to sell its distribution business known as Ashland Distribution to TPG Capital for $930 Million.
The Ashland Distribution business had been a part of Ashland since 1969 when it was known as Ashland Chemical. With revenues of $3.4 billion, the Ashland Distribution business had approximately 2,000 employees across North America and Europe, and entered the China plastics market in 2009.
The sale was finalized April 1, 2011, with a final sale price of US$979 million. The new privately held company was named Nexeo Solutions, which was subsequestly purchased by Univar in 2019 to create
Univar Solutions
Univar Solutions Inc. is a global chemical and ingredients distributor and provider of value-added services. The company was founded in 1924 as Van Waters & Rogers. It was also formerly known as Vopak, Royal Vopak and later Univar. The company ...
.
In May 2011 Ashland announced that it had bought the privately owned company International Specialty Products Inc. (ISP) for $3.2 billion. ISP is a supplier of specialty chemicals and performance-enhancing products for consumer and industrial markets.
In 2014, Ashland Water Technologies was sold to a private equity fund managed by
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is an American private equity company. It is one of the oldest private equity investment firms in the world. Founded in 1978, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $30 billion in approximately 90 businesses, repre ...
.
In May 2017, Ashland spun off its Valvoline business as
Valvoline Inc. (NYSE:VVV), the final step of reorganizing itself as a global specialty chemicals company.
In January 2019, Ashland struck a deal with activist investor Cruiser Capital Advisors, which had planned to mount a proxy fight to replace four board directors. Instead, the two parties reached an agreement involving a consulting role for one of Cruiser's director nominees and more input regarding future board appointees.
In October 2019, Ashland announced Guillermo Novo would succeed William A. Wulfsohn as Chairman and CEO.
See also
*
List of S&P 400 companies
This is a list of companies having stocks that are included in the S&P MidCap 400 (S&P 400) stock market index. The index, maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices, comprises the common stocks of 400 mid-cap, mostly American, companies. Although called ...
References
External links
Ashland official website
{{Authority control
Chemical companies of the United States
Plastics companies of the United States
Manufacturing companies based in Kentucky
Companies based in Wilmington, Delaware
Covington, Kentucky
American companies established in 1924
Chemical companies established in 1924
1924 establishments in Kentucky
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Ashland, Kentucky