$3 Billion Asbestos Deal Reached by W.R.Grace Company to Pay Asbestos Victims

CHICAGO, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Principals announced today a $3 billion
dollar agreement to resolve current and future asbestos claims with chemical
manufacturer W.R.Grace & Co. and related entities, which will eventually allow
the multinational corporation to emerge from bankruptcy with no further
obligations for asbestos injury liability. Grace manufactured asbestos
containing products from 1938 until the 1970's.

Terms of the agreement will require Grace to make cash payments over a period
of time into a trust fund for asbestos victims. Additional cash contributions
will be paid to the trust by Sealed Air Corporation, and Fresenius Medical
Corporation, both formerly affiliated with Grace. Grace agreed that all of its
remaining insurance coverage shall be used for the benefit of the asbestos
victims. Grace also agreed that the trust fund shall receive warrants for its
stock shares at an agreed price. The total value of the payments and equity is
approximately $3 billion dollars. "The victims of asbestos poisoning and
asbestos cancer have walked a long path to reach justice. Certainly nothing
can replace the family members who have been lost as a result of their
exposure to asbestos, but today's settlement represents a fair resolution for
both the victims and Grace," said John D. Cooney of the Chicago law firm of
Cooney and Conway. "It is appropriate at this time to remember that countless
lives were lost and families damaged because of the needless use of asbestos
products for many decades."

Mr. Cooney is a member of the negotiating committee for the settlement, as
well as a member of the official Asbestos Creditors Committee appointed by the
United States Trustee after Grace filed for bankruptcy protection in April
2001. At the time it filed for bankruptcy protection Grace stated that it had
been named in 325,000 asbestos personal injury claims. Cooney, whose law firm
represents asbestos plaintiffs, noted that many individuals had been diagnosed
with asbestos disease since that time. "Workers and their families were
unknowingly exposed to asbestos for most of the last century. Thousands of
those people will be diagnosed with mesothelioma, a deadly cancer, in the
future as a result of this exposure. By structuring this settlement as a trust
fund, both present and future victims will be able to receive just
compensation," Cooney stated.

The announcement of the settlement was made at a scheduled bankruptcy hearing
before Judge Judith Fitzgerald in Pittsburgh this morning. It is expected that
Judge Fitzgerald will set the matter for an additional hearing later this
month.

SOURCE Cooney & Conway

John D. Cooney of Cooney & Conway, +1-312-236-6166, jcooney@cooneyconway.com