Who Owns Ecolab?

What does Ecolab own?
Ecolab owns its four operating segments, the Nalco Water identity, its ECOLAB3D digital platform, manufacturing and blending facilities worldwide, and the service equipment installed at customer sites. It spun off its energy chemicals business as ChampionX in 2021.

Is Ecolab publicly traded?
Yes. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker ECL and is an S&P 500 component.

Who founded Ecolab?
Merritt J. Osborn founded Economics Laboratory in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1923, initially selling carpet cleaner door to door. The Ecolab name was adopted in 1986.

Where is Ecolab headquartered?
The company is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where it has been based for more than a century. It operates in more than 170 countries.

What does Ecolab sell?
Water treatment chemicals and monitoring, cleaning and sanitizing programs, commercial pest elimination services, and contamination control for pharmaceutical and cleanroom manufacturing, all sold as recurring service relationships.

Who owns Ecolab?
Public shareholders own the company through the NYSE listing, with institutional investors holding most shares. No controlling shareholder exists.

What was the Nalco acquisition?
In 2011 Ecolab acquired Nalco, the world's largest industrial water treatment company, for approximately $8 billion, the deal that created its Global Water segment and doubled the company's size.