LEVER Industrial Ireland, the cleaning and disinfectant manufacturer and supplier, may merge with Diversey (Ireland), after Unilever agreed to take over the industrial cleaning products business of Diversey worldwide.
The two companies employ 79 people in Ireland but the management stress that no decision has yet been taken as to their future.
Mr Neil O'Donovan, commercial director of Lever Industrial in Dublin, said the two businesses were "highly complementary", although he added it was too early to speculate on "who or how many people will be affected by the changes".
Lever Industrial International management in Rotterdam intends to use the period until the close of the deal, pencilled in for the end of March, to evaluate the businesses, he said.
Diversey in Dublin manufactures industrial detergents and employs 29 people, while the Belfast office despatches hygiene chemicals and employs 20 people.
The turnover of Lever Industrial in Ireland is £6 million a year. No figure was available for Diversey in Ireland but it is thought to be similar.
Unilever will pay 780 million Canadian dollars (£362.6 million) to the Molson Companies for the Diversey business which had sales around the world of Can$1.1 billion in the year to March 1995.
