Great Lakes Chemical Corporation

Great Lakes Chemical Corporation is a chemical research, production, sales and distribution company that produces specialty chemicals used for polymers, fire suppressants and retardants, pool and spa water purification systems and various other applications. Since 2005 it has been part of Chemtura Corporation.

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History

Great Lakes Chemical Company was founded in Michigan in 1936 to extract bromine from underground salt water brine deposits. It was acquired by McClanahan Oil in 1948 and rechristened Great Lakes Oil and Chemical Company, but by 1960 the company had moved away from oil and gas, instead focusing on the research and production of bromine-based chemicals. At about this time the company assumed its current name (Great Lakes Chemical Corporation) and built the world's largest bromine plant in southern Arkansas.

Great Lakes grew through the following decades, acquiring several smaller companies in its market and establishing its world headquarters in West Lafayette, Indiana. Among those acquired by Great Lakes was BioLab in 1996, a producer of pool and spa products.

In July 2005, Great Lakes merged with Crompton Corporation (formerly Crompton and Knowles) to form Chemtura Corporation, headquartered in Middlebury, Connecticut.

The ticker symbol for Great Lakes on the New York Stock Exchange was GLK.

See also

• Chemtura Corporation
• Crompton Corporation