OLFUS, Iceland (July 14, 2010) — Icelandic Water Holdings ehf, producers of the award-winning CarbonNeutral® natural spring water Icelandic Glacial, announces today that the company has signed a distribution agreement with major Chinese bottler and beverage distributor, China Water & Drinks.
Icelandic Glacial is renowned for its award-winning bottle design, exceptional purity and green credentials. Already popular across North America and Europe, Icelandic Glacial now plans to increase its international footprint in China.
China Water & Drinks is a subsidiary of US-based Heckmann Corporation Inc. (NYSE: HEK), a leader in buying and building companies in the water sector. With the newly signed agreement, Icelandic Glacial will begin its roll-out across a country with a high demand for clean, reliable drinking water.
The first shipment of Icelandic Glacial is set to land in Shanghai this fall, during Expo 2010 where Iceland’s Former Miss World, Unnur Birna will be on hand to help celebrate.
“Our strategic vision has always been to share Icelandic Glacial’s natural spring water from Iceland with thirsty consumers around the world, and we’ve already successfully done that in North America and Europe. This agreement unlocks further global potential by allowing us to introduce our exceptionally pure and sustainable water to China’s growing marketplace,” remarked Jon Olafsson, chairman and co-founder, Icelandic Glacial.
John Cheng, Chief Executive Officer of China Water and Drinks, commented, “We are proud to provide our distribution services to Icelandic Water in China and to bring their well-branded products to consumers across our country. Demand for natural and pure drinking water throughout China offers a vast marketplace as Icelandic Glacial broadens their footprint domestically.”
Icelandic Glacial uses 100% natural green energy in the form of geothermal and hydroelectric power to fuel production. Icelandic Glacial’s label and plastic bottle are 100% recyclable. Earlier this year, the company’s water source was declared certifiably sustainable by Zenith International, Europe’s leading food and beverage consultancy.
For more information about Icelandic Glacial, visit www.icelandicglacial.com.
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About Icelandic Glacial Natural Spring Water
As the world’s first CarbonNeutral® certified bottled spring water for both product and operations, Icelandic Glacial delivers a water of exceptional purity to consumers with a “net zero” carbon footprint.
Located in Olfus, Iceland, Icelandic Glacial is an environmental pioneer in the industry. The company uses 100% natural green energy in the form of geothermal and hydroelectric power to fuel production. The source of Icelandic Glacial is the legendary Olfus Spring, a naturally replenished catchment zone formed during a massive volcanic eruption more than 4,500 years ago, and which has been deemed certifiably sustainable by Zenith International, Europe’s leading food and drinks consultancy.
Icelandic Glacial was named “Best Water of 2007” by industry experts BevNET, and also received accolades for the “Best Sustainability Initiative” at the 2007 BottledWaterWorld awards.
Icelandic Glacial is distributed in the United States by Anheuser-Busch, which took a 20 percent ownership stake in the company in July 2007.
For more information on Icelandic Glacial, go to www.icelandicglacial.com.
About China Water & Drinks
China Water & Drinks, Inc. was acquired by Heckmann Corporation (NYSE: HEK - News) in October 2008 and now operates eight bottled water facilities in the People’s Republic of China with Coca Cola as its largest customer. China Water and Drinks offers bottled water manufacturing and distribution, branding, OEM/private label and marketing services for half liter and carboy size bottles. It markets its own branded bottled water products under its own brands Absolutely Pure and Grand Canyon along with flavored water products under its own brand name Howmax. Additionally, the company provides marketing and distribution services for brands imported into China.
Heckmann Corporation was created to buy and build companies in the water sector. On January 30, 2010, the Company completed its 50-mile water disposal pipeline in the Haynesville Shale which can treat and dispose up to 100,000 barrels of water per day. The completion of the pipeline makes the Company one of the largest handlers of produced water in North America. On February 9, 2010, the Company announced its joint venture with Energy Transfer to provide turnkey transportation and treatment solutions for complicated water flows in the Marcellus and Haynesville oil and natural gas fields.
The Company also makes strategic minority interest investments, such as its recent investment in Underground Solutions, Inc. (OTC: UGSI - News), an exclusive supplier of Fusible PVC? pipe products, and China Bottles, Inc., a bottle equipment manufacturing company in China.
Interested stockholders and investors can access additional information about Heckmann on the Company’s web site at www.heckmanncorp.com, and in documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov.