named solvay . for other uses see solvay disambiguation . solvay s.a. type soci t anonyme traded as euronext solb industry chemicals founded 1863 founder alfred and ernest solvay headquarters brussels belgium key people nicolas bo l chairman jean pierre clamadieu ceo products chemicals and plastics revenue 12.4 billion 2015 1 profit 2.336 billion 2015 1 total assets 17.89 billion 2014 1 total equity 6.78 billion 2014 1 number of employees 30 900 fte 2015 1 website www.solvay.com solvay s.a. is a belgian chemical company founded in 1863 with its head office in neder over heembeek brussels belgium . in 2014 it realized 10.21 billion in revenues 1.783 billion of rebitda 43 % of its sales in emerging high growth countries 90 % of its sales in markets where it is ranked among the top three manufacturers . with 119 sites solvay employs 30 900 people in 52 countries . contents 1 history 2 corporate affairs 3 products 4 academia 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit medal cast in 1913 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of solvay and company . text in french reads ernest et alfred solvay . founded in 1863 2 by ernest solvay and his brother alfred solvay to produce sodium carbonate by the solvay process the company has diversified into two major sectors of activity chemicals and plastics . before world war i solvay was the largest multination company in the world . 3 it was formerly also active in pharmaceuticals but agreed to sell that entire division to abbott labs for 4.5 billion in september 2009 4 a deal completed in february 2010 . in april 2011 the firm agreed to the 3.4 billion acquisition of french based chemicals company rhodia 5 and achieved in september 2011 . since january 2012 the new solvay is listed on the nyse euronext in paris and joined the cac 40 index in september 2012 to replace psa peugeot citro n. 6 solvay is historically listed on the nyse euronext in brussels and part of bel20 index . following its integration with rhodia the committee of executive members at solvay reorganised its various business units into five segments consumer chemicals advanced materials performance chemicals functional polymers and corporate & business services effective from 2013 . the primary purposes of these changes were to take the group closer to its customers be more agile and be better placed to seize opportunities and realize its growth ambitions . 1 the company is a supporter of the solvay conferences that were started by ernest solvay in 1911 . 7 on december 3 2015 solvay launched a share issue sent to existing shareholders completing funding for the 5.5 billion purchase of cytec industries inc. 8 corporate affairs edit solvay america offices in houston texas the company s head office is located in brussels belgium . 9 solvay s united states subsidiary solvay america inc. is based in houston texas . 10 11 products edit solvay is a main partner of solar impulse and has contributed important r & d resources to their solar powered airplane project . that aircraft conducted its first test flight on 3 december 2009 and has achieved several important milestones since then including successful solar powered flights from switzerland to spain and morocco in 2012 . 12 currently solar impulse ii is attempting a round the world trip . fuel cell technology solvicore a joint venture by umicore and solvay in the field of fuel cells is already pre marketing membrane electrode assemblies for different types of fuel cells for portable or mobile use . 13 new generation lithium batteries for hybrid vehicles components make use of solvay fluorinated polymers . compared to conventional vehicles the hybrids reduce co2 emissions by 30 % . 14 soil remediation novosol sodium bicarbonate based process for treating and recovering mineral residues contaminated with heavy metals . 15 renewable feedstock development and industrialization of proprietary epicerol process for manufacturing epichlorhydrin from natural glycerin . 16 academia edit centre national de la recherche scientifique cnrs france university of bordeaux france claude bernard university lyon 1 france cole normale sup rieure de lyon france lille university of science and technology france university of pennsylvania philadelphia usa east china normal university ecnu shanghai china fudan university shanghai china university of campinas unicamp brazil see also edit companies portal brussels portal solvac references edit a b c d e f g full year 2014 financial report . solvay . retrieved march 2014 . check date values in access date help solvay 150 years history 1 gray block aaron ; blenkinsop philip 28 september 2009 . abbott buys solvay s drugs unit for 4.5 bln euros . reuters . retrieved 2009 09 28 . gray block aaron 4 april 2011 . solvay bids 3.4 bln euros for france s rhodia . reuters . retrieved 4 april 2011 . solvay replaced psa peugeot citro n in cac 40 index solvay conferences fundings solvay launches 1.5 bln euro rights issue for cytec buy . reuters . 2015 12 03 . retrieved 2015 12 04 . solvay headquarters access map . solvay . retrieved on 5 july 2011 . rue du prince albert 33 1050 ixelles solvay news & press regional contacts . solvay . retrieved on 5 july 2011 . solvay america inc. 3333 richmond avenue houston tx 77098 3009 harris county improvement district 3 . see map upper kirby . retrieved on december 10 2008 . http www.solarimpulse.com en documents partner.php lang en & group partner pr sentation solvicore http www.solvaysolexis.com static wma pdf 1 6 3 3 5 solef liion 20090827en.pdf lithium batteries for hybrid vehicles http www.solvay investors.com static wma pdf 1 9 9 2 ra solvay2003 en.pdf http www.solvaypress.com pressreleases 0 52477 2 0 00.htm external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to solvay company . official website solvay 150 years history v t e cac 40 companies of france last update 6 january 2016 accor air liquide airbus group alstom arcelormittal axa bnp paribas bouygues capgemini carrefour cr dit agricole danone edf essilor engie kering l or al lafargeholcim legrand lvmh michelin nokia orange pernod ricard peugeot publicis renault safran saint gobain sanofi schneider electric soci t g n rale solvay technip total unibail rodamco valeo veolia environnement vinci vivendi v t e bel20 companies of belgium ackermans & van haaren ageas anheuser busch inbev befimmo sicafi bekaert bpost cofinimmo colruyt group delhaize group delta lloyd d ieteren elia engie gbl kbc groep proximus group solvay telenet group ucb umicore retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title solvay s.a. & oldid 739479744 categories bel20 companiespharmaceutical companies of belgiumchemical companies of belgiumbelgian brandspharmaceutical companies established in 1863cac 40life sciences industrymultinational companies headquartered in belgiumplastics companieshidden categories cs1 errors datespages using infobox company with unsupported parametersarticles containing french language textcommons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages e tinadeutschespa ol fran aisitalianolatvie unederlands piemont ispolskiportugu s edit links this page was last modified on 14 september 2016 at 23 14 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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