1 NEWS RELEASE July 16, 1996 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For Further Information Gary E. Pruitt Vice President & CFO (206) 889-3440 ROYAL PAKHOED COMPLETES TENDER OFFER FOR UNIVAR (KIRKLAND, Wash., July 16, 1996)-Univar Corporation (NYSE: UVX), today reported that approximately 14,600,000 shares have been tendered to Royal Pakhoed N.V. ---------- This amount, combined with the 28.09 percent already owned by Pakhoed and its affiliates, raises Royal Pakhoed's total ownership of Univar common stock to approximately 95.5 percent and completes the Pakhoed tender offer. ---- On June 3, 1996, Royal Pakhoed announced a tender offer for all of the outstanding common shares of Univar Corporation at a price of $19.45 per share. The tender offer expired at 8:00 p.m., eastern time, on Monday, July 15, 1996. Payment to Univar shareholders who have tendered their shares will begin in five business days. Under Royal Pakhoed's agreement with Univar, it will acquire in a cash merger at $19.45 per share, the remaining Univar common shares that have not been tendered. The cash out of the approximately 975,000 remaining shares is ------- expected to be completed in the next few months. Univar Corporation, headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, is the multi-national leader in the distribution of chemicals and allied products to industry through three subsidiaries, Van Waters & Rogers Inc. in the United States, Van Waters & Rogers Ltd. in Canada, and Univar Europe N.V. in Europe. Royal Pakhoed N.V., (a translation of Koninklijke Pakhoed N.V.), is a limited liability company formed under the laws of the Netherlands and operates numerous tank storage facilities in Europe, the United States, and Asia for storage of chemicals and oil, and conducts worldwide shipping and distribution operations, primarily in Europe. Pakhoed's shares are traded on the Amsterdam and London Stock Exchanges. ### 2 [KONINKLIJKE PAKHOED NV LETTERHEAD] Persbericht Press release TENDER OFFER PAKHOED FOR UNIVAR SUCCESSFUL Royal Pakhoed announces that as a result of the tender offer made by Pakhoed on June 3, 1996 on the shares of Univar Corporation quoted at the New York Stock Exchange, Pakhoed's interest in Univar increases from 28.09 percent to approximately 95.5 percent. The tender offer expired on July 15, 1996, 08.00 p.m. New York time. Pakhoed offered USD 19.45 per Univar share. The remaining shares in Univar, representing approximately 4.5 percent of the total outstanding shares, will be acquired by a merger in the United States. The acquisition of Univar fits in Pakhoed's strategy to focus on logistics and distribution activities for the global oil- and chemical industry. With a turnover of USD 2 billion, Univar is one of the largest companies in the world in the field of chemical distribution. Univar is market leader in the United States and Canada and in Europe it is mainly active in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Switzerland. Through Lambert Riviere, Pakhoed has chemical distribution activities particularly in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Together these companies will become the largest chemical distribution enterprise in the world. Rotterdam, 16 July, 1996 For further information: F.J.A. Jumelet, Legal Counsel Telephone: +31 (0) 10 400 24 07