FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1997                      (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


 TWO DUTCH COMPANIES PLEAD GUILTY TO INTERNATIONAL PRICE FIXING:
            SENTENCED TO PAY $10 MILLION CRIMINAL FINE


   Justice Department's Crackdown on International Price Fixing
      Conspiracies has Netted $210 Million in Criminal Fines


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Two subsidiaries of the Dutch
pharmaceutical and chemical giant Akzo Nobel NV and the Dutch
agricultural company AVEBE BA pleaded guilty and were sentenced
to pay a total fine of $10 million today for participating in an
international conspiracy to fix the price and allocate market
shares worldwide for an industrial cleaner called sodium
gluconate, the Department of Justice said.

     Two of the companies' executives also pleaded guilty and
were sentenced to pay criminal fines totaling $200,000 for their
part in the conspiracy.

     Sodium gluconate is used as an industrial cleaner of metal
and glass with applications such as bottle washing, food service
and utensil cleaning, food process equipment cleaning, and paint
removal.  It is a $50 million a year industry worldwide.

     Today's cases, filed in U.S. District Court in San
Francisco, are the first filed in the sodium gluconate industry,
and the latest in a string of international conspiracy cases
filed by the Department's Antitrust Division over the past year
resulting in fines of about $210 million.

     "These cases further demonstrate the Department's priority
to protect American consumers from paying higher prices on
thousands of products as a result of these international
conspiracies," said Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney General in
charge of the Department's Antitrust Division.

     The two companies that pleaded guilty today are Akzo Nobel
Chemicals BV, a subsidiary of Akzo Nobel NV and Glucona BV, a
subsidiary of AVEBE BA.  The allocation of the $10 million fine
will be determined by the two companies.

     The felony cases charge that two executives of a former
partnership between Akzo Nobel Chemicals BV and AVEBE BA--Glucona
v.o.f.--agreed with other unnamed major sodium gluconate-
producing firms to suppress and eliminate competition in the
sodium gluconate market from August 1993 to June 1995. 

     The two executives--Cornelis R. Nederveen, the
former general manager of the Glucona partnership, and Marcel L.
van Eekhout, the former managing director of Glucona--also
pleaded guilty and were sentenced today to each pay a $100,000
criminal fine for their role in the international sodium
gluconate conspiracy.  Nederveen and van Eekhout are both Dutch
citizens. 

     The Department charged that Nederveen and van Eekhout met
with their co-conspirators in the sodium gluconate markets to set
the prices and allocate the market shares of sodium gluconate
that each participating firm could sell.

     "Today's cases likely are only the first in the sodium
gluconate industry and represent an ongoing expansion of the
Division's investigations into many international markets," said
Gary R. Spratling, the Antitrust Division's Deputy Assistant
Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement.  "In future months, we
expect more prosecutions in other international industries."

     The three single-count felony informations charge that the 
companies and executives:

          Agreed to charge sodium gluconate prices at certain
          levels and to increase those prices accordingly.

          Agreed to allocate among the corporate conspirators the
          market shares of sodium gluconate that each
          participating firm could sell.

          Issued price announcements and price quotations in
          accordance with the agreements.

          Participated in meetings and conversations for the
          purpose of monitoring and enforcing adherence to the
          agreed-upon prices and market shares.  

     As part of their plea agreements, the parties have agreed to
cooperate in the ongoing government investigation.
     
     Glucona v.o.f. imported sodium gluconate into the United
States through an affiliate, Glucona America.  Akzo Nobel
Chemicals BV sold its interest in Glucona v.o.f. to AVEBE BA in
late 1995, and Glucona v.o.f. eventually was renamed Glucona BV.

     Akzo Nobel Chemicals BV is a Dutch company headquartered in  
Amersfoort, The Netherlands.  Glucona BV is also a Dutch company
headquartered in Veendam, The Netherlands.

     Today's charges are the result of an investigation conducted
by the Antitrust Division's San Francisco Field Office and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation in San Francisco.

     Akzo Nobel, Glucona, Nederveen and van Eekhout are charged
with violating the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum fine of
$10 million for corporations and $350,000 for individuals.  The
fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime by
the cartel or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the
crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory
maximum fine of $10 million for corporations and $350,000 for
individuals.   
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