Ecolab Announces Pricing of Senior Notes Offering

ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ecolab Inc. today announced it has priced an underwritten public offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes. The senior unsecured notes include:

• $300 million of 1.550% notes due 2018
• $300 million of 2.250% notes due 2020

The notes have been assigned a Baa1 rating by Moody's Investor Service, Inc. and a BBB+ rating by Standard & Poor's Rating Services. Moody's changed its outlook on Ecolab to stable from negative. Standard & Poor's outlook of positive is unchanged.

The offering is expected to close on January 15, 2015, subject to customary closing conditions.

Ecolab intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay a portion of its outstanding commercial paper borrowings and for general corporate purposes.

The offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), and only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus, copies of which may be obtained on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Ecolab
A trusted partner at more than one million customer locations, Ecolab (ECL) is the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that protect people and vital resources. With 2013 sales of $13 billion and 45,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions and on-site service to promote safe food, maintain clean environments, optimize water and energy use and improve operational efficiencies for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world. For more Ecolab news and information, visit www.ecolab.com.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information
Statements contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Ecolab's actual results may differ materially from those set forth in any forward-looking statements due to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors, as described in Ecolab's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ecolab does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements.

(ECL-C)

Ecolab Inc.
Investor Contacts:
Michael Monahan, 651-293-2809
or
Lisa Curran, 651-293-2185