Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company, taken over by a number of chemical companies, including Huntsman Corporation, a United States-based company, and AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, two of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British economy". It produced paints and speciality products (including ingredients for foods, specialty polymers, electronic materials, fragrances and flavours). It employed around 29,000 people and had a turnover of just over £4.8 billion in 2006. The company was independent from 1926 to 2008, headquartered for most of that time in Millbank, London, and was a constituent of the FT30 Index and FTSE 100 Index. After the January 2008 change of ownership, AkzoNobel fully integrated ICI's operations within its existing organisation.
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