Midland, MI - November 01, 2005

Hampshire Chemical Corp., a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, finalized the sale today of its DAXAD™ dispersant and Glycine businesses, including its Deer Park, Texas production facility, to GEO Specialty Chemicals. Terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

Peter Davies, business vice president of Dow, commented, "This agreement confirms our emphasis on portfolio management: focusing our resources on businesses that are better positioned for long term sustainability and value creation within Dow." Davies continued, "Our top priority now is working closely with GEO Specialty Chemicals to ensure a seamless transition for our customers."

Ken Ghazey, CEO and President of GEO, added, "This acquisition is consistent with GEO's strategic plans to grow its specialty chemical businesses. The Hampshire Chemical facility and the DAXAD product family will complement GEO's Construction and Industrial Additives division. We look forward to a successful integration and providing a high level of customer support."

DAXAD is the trademark for naphthalene sulfonate formaldehyde condensate (NSFC) dispersants. These high activity dispersants are used to disperse finely divided insoluble particles in water. They are used to improve suspension, lower viscosity, increase color intensity, and provide better grinding properties in emulsion polymerization, dyes, ceramic slips, cements, gypsum wallboard, tanning and many other industries.

Glycine is a specialty ingredient used as a flavor enhancer or flavor masker in oral care and animal feed applications. It is also used in antiperspirants and in pharmaceuticals as a buffering agent/pH stabilizer.

Dow is a leader in science and technology, providing innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $40 billion, Dow serves customers in 175 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress: food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of sustainable development, Dow and its 43,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted.

GEO Specialty Chemicals is a global manufacturer of specialty chemicals serving the water treatment, rubber and plastics, coatings, construction and industrial, opto-electronics and compound semiconductor industries. GEO has 17 plants in the USA and 2 in Europe.

For Editorial Information:

Rosemarie Rung
The Dow Chemical Company
1-603-424-8024

Mr. Bill Eckman
GEO Specialty Chemicals
(765) 448-9412