 The company was founded in 1928 as the National Aluminate Corporation, formed from the merger of Chicago Chemical Company and the Aluminum Sales Corporation.By a series of mergers and acquisition, its name was changed to Nalco Chemical Company (1959 - 1999); then Ondeo Nalco Company (1999 - 2004); and in 2004 to Nalco Holding Company.It became a subsidiary of Ecolab Inc. in December 2011 after the completion of the US$5.4 billion acquisition by Ecolab.