ALTANA AG engages in the development, production, and distribution of specialty chemicals for various applications worldwide. It operates in four divisions: Additives & Instruments, Effect Pigments, Electrical Insulation, and Coatings & Sealants. The Additives & Instruments division offers wetting and dispersing additives for the even distribution and stabilization of solids in liquids, and defoamers and air-release additives that eliminate air bubbles in coatings and plastics. It also produces and markets measuring and testing instruments to measure the surface properties, such as color, glass, and physical properties of paints and plastics. The Effect Pigments division offers products, including aluminum, pearlescent, and PVD pigments; metallic pigment coatings; gold-bronze and zinc pigments; and even press-ready metallic printing inks. Its pigments are used in the automobile industry, as well as in graphics, engineering materials, cosmetics, and plastics applications markets. The Electrical Insulation division produces insulating materials for the electrical and electronics industry. It specializes in liquid electrical insulation, such as overprint and dipping varnishes, resins, and casting compounds used in electric motors, transformers, generators, sensors, and printed circuit boards. The Coatings & Sealants division develops and manufactures products for the printing and packaging industries. Its product portfolio includes sealing materials and sophisticated coatings for food, drug, and cosmetics packaging; instance bottle caps; can end sealants; bags; foils; drug blisters; boxes; multi-item packaging; and packaging labels, as well as newspapers and CD covers. The company’s customers include coatings manufacturers, and coatings and plastics processors, as well as companies in the electric, electronics, graphics, and cosmetics industries. ALTANA AG was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Wesel, Germany.