Air Products Performance Materials Division Entering Personal Care Specialty Ingredients Industry

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Air Products today announced that it is entering the Personal Care Specialty Ingredients industry as part of its overall Performance Materials growth platform strategy. The company will focus initially on Personal Care Specialty Ingredients for skin care, hair care, and color cosmetics. The path to market will initially leverage a technology license, and research and development agreement with Landec Corporation providing exclusive rights to Landec's novel and patented polymer technology for Personal Care under the trade name Intelimer(R) polymers.

Landec's unique Intelimer polymers provide a tool for global personal care companies to develop distinct products. Intelimer polymers possess exceptional abilities to adjust the feel, touch, and other properties of cosmetic products when activated by the temperature of skin or hair and are currently being used in several skin care and hair care products.

"Our strategy is to create a Personal Care platform via a combination of new product development internally, the licensing of external technologies that build on our core competencies, and selected acquisitions that provide critical mass, know-how and industry access," said Wayne Mitchell, Air Products' vice president and general manager-Performance Materials Division. "The Air Products and Landec collaboration will help facilitate our Personal Care initiative, which is part of the overall Performance Materials growth platform strategy to enter selected profitable growth segments in the Personal Care industry."

"This collaboration will jump-start our goal to become a credible specialty ingredient supplier to the Personal Care industry and will enable our long-term strategic objective to establish a profitable growth business. Landec provides us with access to the Personal Care industry through a combination of existing product sales, late stage developmental products, and expanding relationships with key formulators," said Solomon Lemma, Air Products' business development manager-Personal Care.

Air Products will make its Personal Care Specialty Ingredients debut May 16-17 at the New York Suppliers Day hosted by the New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists held at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, N.J.

About Air Products

Air Products serves customers in technology, energy, healthcare and industrial markets worldwide with a unique portfolio of products, services and solutions, providing atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials and chemical intermediates. Founded in 1940, Air Products has built leading positions in key growth markets such as semiconductor materials, refinery hydrogen, home healthcare services, natural gas liquefaction, and advanced coatings and adhesives. The company is recognized for its innovative culture, operational excellence and commitment to safety and the environment and is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability and FTSE4Good Indices. The company has annual revenues of $8.1 billion, operations in over 30 countries, and over 20,000 employees around the globe. For more information, visit http://www.airproducts.com/.

About Landec

Landec Corporation (http://www.landec.com/) designs, develops, manufactures and sells temperature-activated and other specialty polymer products for a variety of food, agricultural and licensed partner applications. The Company's temperature-activated polymer products are based on its patented Intelimer(R) polymers which differ from other polymers in that they can be customized to abruptly change their physical characteristics when heated or cooled through a pre-set temperature switch. The company has annual revenues of $205 million with headquarters in Menlo Park, CA and offices in Guadalupe, CA. and Monticello, IN.

***NOTE: This release may contain forward-looking statements. Actual results could vary materially, due to changes in current expectations.