BURLINGTON, MA--(Marketwire - August 20, 2007) - Elsevier announced today that it has signed an exclusive international distribution agreement with William Andrew for all territories outside of North America. Under the terms of the agreement, Elsevier will manage the sales, marketing and distribution of William Andrew handbooks, references, and databases beginning December 1, 2007 for all regions except Japan. Distribution in Japan commences with immediate effect.

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of high-quality books, journals, electronic products and publishing services, with a well-established position in the international engineering community. William Andrew is highly regarded in the niche disciplines for which they publish, particularly plastics and rubbers; industrial chemicals; adhesives and sealants; coatings, paintings and ink; materials engineering; and formulations. The company is undertaking an aggressive growth strategy by adding to the number of books it is publishing as well as expanding into new subjects, such as micro and nano technologies, cosmetics and personal care. It will shortly be publishing the 5th edition of "Sittig's Handbook of Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals and Carcinogens" as well as the 4th edition of the "Chemical Resistance" database.

According to Elsevier Science and Technology Books Vice President of Business Development, Mark Dalton, the alliance with William Andrew is an important building block in Elsevier Science & Technology's strategy to bring the world's leading high-quality content to its customers. "This new agreement marks a significant step toward expanding our customers' resources in new and emerging disciplines and extending our core offering to engineering professionals, academics and students worldwide."

Commenting on the agreement, the publisher of William Andrew, Martin Scrivener, said, "This is a significant development for William Andrew. We are delighted to be associated with Elsevier and we look forward to putting down roots. Elsevier's world wide sales reach will give WA and its authors a deeper penetration in current markets and expansion in adjacent and emergent markets."