[VALHI LOGO GOES HERE]


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                                  PRESS RELEASE

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                               CONTACT:

VALHI, INC.                                          Bobby D. O'Brien
Three Lincoln Centre                                 Vice President
5430 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1700                         (972) 233-1700
Dallas, Texas 75240-2697


                 VALHI ANNOUNCES PROPOSAL TO MERGE WITH TREMONT


         DALLAS,  TEXAS  . . . July  26,  2002 . . .  Valhi,  Inc.  (NYSE:  VHI)
announced  today  that  it has  made a  proposal  to  merge  Valhi  and  Tremont
Corporation (NYSE: TRE).

         Valhi directly and indirectly owns 5,154,588 shares of the common stock
of Tremont,  representing  approximately  80% of the 6,424,858 shares of Tremont
currently outstanding.  Of such shares held directly and indirectly by Valhi, NL
Industries,  Inc. (NYSE: NL), a majority-owned  subsidiary of Valhi,  indirectly
owns  1,036,167  of the Tremont  shares.  Approximately  94% of the  115,118,917
outstanding  shares  of  Valhi  are  held by  Contran  Corporation  and  related
entities.

         The  proposal   states  that   stockholders  of  Tremont  common  stock
(including NL) other than Valhi would receive between 2 shares and 2.5 shares of
Valhi common stock for each Tremont share held.

         Valhi,  Inc. is engaged in the  titanium  dioxide  pigments,  component
products (ergonomic computer support systems,  precision ball bearing slides and
security products),  titanium metals products,  waste management  industries and
other businesses.

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