Nalco in Winnington, near Northwich, is the UK headquarters of the multinational industrial process and water treatment services company, formerly known as Ondeo.

The company's plant at Lostock, Northwich, which once formed part of the massive ICI Mid-Cheshire operation, employs 250 people.

Ondeo has been bought by an American private equity group from the French Suez Group and will now operate as a privately held independent business, with world-wide sales for 2003 expected to be announced at around £1.5bn.

The French water industry infrastructure company, Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux, acquired in 1999 the American-owned Nalco Chemical Company which included the Cheshire factory. Nalco had itself bought ICI's share in the plant eight years earlier.

The money is now being spent at the Weavergate plant on the installation of a new process system that will minimise the need for shop floor operators to handle chemicals.

The new system will also improve the plant's efficiency and product quality.

To mark the expansion programme the plant has been visited by Weaver Vale MP Mike Hall, who worked in the chemical industry.

Plant managerJim Smith, who is iin charge of Nalco's UK factories said: "We have been in the Northwich area for over 30 years and we are a significant employer. As a result of all of this activity we are a significantly bigger and stronger company."

The new owners are made up of a group including The Blackstone Group, Apollo Management and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.

The Cheshire plant can trace its history back to 1929 when an American and a Canadian company joined forces to launch a UK water treatment venture.

In 1934, ICI's Alkali Division in Winnington purchased the Canadian company's share of the business and the company then became a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICI, with water treatment products manufactured at ICI's Cheshire plant at Lostock. In 1964, Ondeo Nalco outgrew its London headquarters and the base was switched to Winnington.