ÖLFUS, Iceland (July 14, 2010) — Icelandic Water Holdings ehf, producers of the award-winningCarbonNeutral® 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.icelandic.staging.wpengine.com.
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About Icelandic Glacial Natural Spring Water™
Born and bottled in Ölfus, Iceland, Icelandic Glacial™ is the world’s first certified CarbonNeutral® natural spring bottled water for both product and operations. An environmental pioneer in the industry, Icelandic Glacial™ uses 100% natural green energy in the form of geothermal and hydroelectric power to fuel production, delivering a super-premium bottled water from pristine Iceland to consumers while maintaining a “net zero” carbon footprint.
The source of Icelandic Glacial™ is Iceland’s legendary Ölfus Spring, a naturally replenished catchment zone formed during a massive volcanic eruption more than 4,500 years ago. The Spring has been deemed certifiably sustainable by Zenith International, Europe’s leading food and drinks consultancy. The Ölfus Spring produces water so pure that nothing is added or taken away. As a result, Icelandic Glacial™ possesses exceptional balance that is the envy of the industry, featuring a naturally occurring low mineral content and naturally high alkaline pH level of 8.4.
As a testament to its exceptional purity, Icelandic Glacial™ was chosen by Parfums Christian Dior as the exclusive hydration method to be used in their Diorsnow line of skin-lightening beauty products to be released in 2012.
Icelandic Glacial™ is distributed in the United States by Anheuser-Busch, which took a 20 percent ownership stake in the company in July 2007 and subsequently increased its stake to over 23%.
For more information about Icelandic Glacial™, visit www.icelandic.staging.wpengine.com. Follow us on Twitter @ ”IcelandicWater” and Facebook @ “Icelandic Glacial Water”
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.