Aug 19 2010 --- Corn Products International, Inc. has announced that the Federal Trade Commission has granted early termination of the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period with respect to the Company's planned acquisition of National Starch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Akzo Nobel.

Corn Products anticipates the transaction will close in late September or early October, subject to clearance in a number of other jurisdictions.

Corn Products International announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire National Starch, a New Jersey-based global provider of specialty starches, from AkzoNobel, the largest global coatings and specialty chemicals company, headquartered in The Netherlands in June.

Combining National Starch with Corn Products will create an ingredient solutions leader with nearly $5 billion in revenues.

National Starch is a recognized innovator in food ingredients and specialty starches. The company's technologies are supported by a world-class research and development infrastructure and protected by more than 800 patents and patents pending, which drive the development of advanced specialty starches for the next generation of food products. National Starch had 2009 revenues of $1.2 billion from sales of specialty starches to both local and multinational customers in the food, papermaking, consumer and industrial segments. It has 2,250 employees around the world and operates 11 plants in eight countries, including new geographies for Corn Products such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.

National Starch is a leader in the development of specialty and modified starches - two of the ingredient solutions that Corn Products has identified as important to its ongoing growth. National Starch's ingredient solutions, such as texturants, blends and environmentally "green" solutions, will broaden Corn Products' offerings to its global customers.