Category: South Africa

Strategic expansion of botanical extracts portfolio strengthens regional support for beauty and personal care and pharmaceutical customers

Univar Solutions Expands Exclusive Beauty, Personal Care, and Pharmaceutical Ingredients Partnership with American Distilling in EMEA

Strategic expansion of botanical extracts portfolio strengthens regional support for beauty and personal care and pharmaceutical customers

Univar Solutions Expands Exclusive Beauty, Personal Care, and Pharmaceutical Ingredients Partnership with American Distilling in EMEA

“Partnering with American Distilling in EMEA helps position us as a leading and trusted distributor for this product range while strengthening our botanical extract offering,” said Nick Powell, CEO of Ingredients + Specialties from Univar Solutions. “We’ve long supported these specialty ingredients in North America, and with a robust supply chain and experienced technical teams now available regionally, we’re able to offer local stock and faster supply availability to customers.”

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, June 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Univar Solutions B.V., a subsidiary of Univar Solutions LLC (“Univar Solutions” or “the Company”), a leading global solutions provider to users of specialty ingredients and chemicals, today announced an expanded distribution partnership with American Distilling through its Ingredients + Specialties from Univar Solutions division. Under the new agreement, Univar Solutions will distribute American Distilling’s portfolio of high-quality, natural specialty ingredients. The agreement includes traditional witch hazel (alcohol-free options and customizable grades) for personal care, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical applications across select European, Middle Eastern, and African (EMEA) markets*.

“Partnering with American Distilling in EMEA helps position us as a leading and trusted distributor for this product range while strengthening our botanical extract offering,” said Nick Powell, CEO of Ingredients + Specialties from Univar Solutions. “We’ve long supported these specialty ingredients in North America, and with a robust supply chain and experienced technical teams now available regionally, we’re able to offer local stock and faster supply availability to customers.”

Witch hazel is a multifunctional botanical extract used in facial care, cleansers, body washes, hair care, eye gels, and personal hygiene products. Native to the woodlands of the Northeastern United States, this Hamamelis-derived ingredient offers natural astringent, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial benefits. As a gentle, plant-based alternative to synthetic astringents, it supports a broad range of applications, from toners and moisturizers to pads, ointments, creams, sprays, and therapeutic formulations, enhancing both natural content and overall product performance.

“This partnership represents an important step in bringing high-quality United States Pharmacopeia (USP) witch hazel products to customers across the EMEA region,” said Bryan Jackowitz, vice president of American Distilling, Inc. “By collaborating with Univar Solutions, we are now able to market our full portfolio of cosmetic and pharmaceutical witch hazel extracts, giving customers greater flexibility to identify the solution that best fits their specific application needs, with a robust distribution infrastructure to help strengthens their supply chains. We are excited about the long-term potential of this collaboration and look forward to growing together.”

With the addition of this portfolio, Univar Solutions further solidifies its position as a leading distributor of high-performance ingredients for brands shaping the next generation of beauty, personal care, and pharmaceutical products. Customers benefit from the Company’s comprehensive formulation support, advanced laboratory capabilities, deep market insights, and robust distribution network. The Company also offers access to its global Solution Center in Essen, Germany, providing regional support for product development and scale-up.

Learn more about Ingredients + Specialties from Univar Solutions’ portfolio and technical capabilities.

*Markets in agreement include: Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Herzegovina, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Ireland,, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldovia, Monaco, Morrocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.

About Univar Solutions
Univar Solutions is a leading global specialty chemical and ingredient distributor representing a premier portfolio from the world’s leading producers. With one of the industry’s largest private transportation fleets and technical sales force, unparalleled logistics know-how, deep market and regulatory knowledge, formulation and recipe development, and leading digital tools, the Company is well-positioned to offer tailored solutions and value-added services to a wide range of markets, industries, and applications. While fulfilling its purpose to help keep communities healthy, fed, clean, and safe, Univar Solutions is committed to helping customers and suppliers innovate and focus on Growing Together. Learn more at univarsolutions.com.

About Ingredients + Specialties from Univar Solutions
Ingredients + Specialties from Univar Solutions brings the best products, people, and results to specialty customers and suppliers seeking to power modern life. By combining science, innovation, and deep expertise with a leading specialty portfolio, we help find the solutions needed to safely improve lives and communities across the globe. Learn more at univarsolutions.com.

About American Distilling
American Distilling is committed to maintaining our position as the industry leader, supplying the health and beauty care and pharmaceutical industries with the highest quality, sustainable distilled Witch Hazel ingredient products. Their talented staff of professionals is dedicated to providing the highest standards of customer service, personal integrity, and consumer value. Each day, they demonstrate their expertise by producing “excellence assured” ingredients for formulations and assisting with new product development to form long-term partnerships with their valued customers. Learn more at americandistilling.com.

Forward-Looking Statements and Information
This communication contains “forward-looking statements” under applicable law regarding financial and operating items relating to the Company’s business. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “seeks,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates” or other comparable terms. All forward-looking statements made in this communication are qualified by this cautionary language.

Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond the Company’s control, that could result in expectations not being realized or could otherwise materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Although the forward-looking statements are based on what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, we caution you that the forward-looking information presented in this communication is not a guarantee of future events or results, and that actual events or results may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking information contained in this communication. For additional information regarding factors that could affect the Company, please see the Company’s most recent annual report and other financial reports, including the information set forth under the caption “Risk Factors.” Any forward-looking statements represent the Company’s views only as of the date of this communication and should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any subsequent date, and the Company undertakes no obligation, other than as may be required by law, to update any forward-looking statement.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1a0f125e-9860-41fc-bd5d-3e4b878928a1

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c253a85c-ac7c-4f0e-9eac-36644f8af1e8

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9748380

Purpose-built platform for network operators enables sovereign on-premises AI, operator-built SLMs, policy-governed access to frontier models, and zero trust AI security, all on a single token charging and service assurance platform

RICHARDSON, Texas, June 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mavenir today announced an Integrated AI Platform developed in collaboration with Red Hat that enables network operators to monetize AI the way they already monetize data; through token-based consumption plans, billed on the phone bill, with full control over pricing, service-level agreements (SLAs) and the models that power every interaction. The Integrated AI Platform will operate across three models: operator-branded AI services for their own subscribers; as the AI infrastructure layer powering operator AI grid deployments; and as a managed AI platform through which operators offer AI capabilities to enterprise customers on a token-based consumption basis. Using Red Hat AI as a unified platform that brings together AI capabilities running on Kubernetes infrastructure powered by Red Hat OpenShift, Mavenir’s Integrated AI Platform empowers operators with a flexible, sovereign-first architecture. This allows operators to utilize on-premises models and custom-built small language models (SLMs) that can handle a wide range of use cases, while also benefitting from selective, policy-governed connectivity to frontier models for tasks that demand cutting-edge reasoning capability. Operators control which model handles which request, who pays for it and how it is billed.

AI Monetization: The Operator Opportunity

The global AI services market is generating new revenue streams that network operators are uniquely positioned to capture. Token-based AI consumption, the unit model powering every large language model interaction, mirrors the mobile data billing paradigm operators have mastered for decades. Monthly AI token plans, per-department enterprise quotas, and SLA-backed tiers for operator-provided AI services represent a structurally new monetization layer on top of existing connectivity.

To realize this opportunity, operators need production-grade AI infrastructure that controls sovereign on-premises compute, intelligent model routing, token-accurate metering, carrier-grade service assurance, and billing integration. Critically, no single deployment model fits every use case. Routine use cases belong on operator-owned SLMs for cost and sovereignty reasons. Complex reasoning tasks may warrant selective access to frontier models. Built in collaboration with Red Hat, Mavenir’s integrated AI platform supports both modes under a single policy and charging framework, giving operators a hybrid architecture that maximizes economics without sacrificing capability where it matters most.

The Integrated AI Platform

The Integrated AI platform brings together Mavenir’s AI software platform with Red Hat’s enterprise Kubernetes and AI capabilities, delivered on validated hardware from third-party partners. The result is a carrier-grade, cloud-native AI infrastructure platform that operators can deploy on-premises with enhanced data sovereignty. The architecture is designed as hybrid, using default on-premises and open-source models to serve most of the traffic, while Mavenir’s model router provides policy-governed, metered access to external frontier models for use cases that require advanced reasoning or multimodal capability. The platform enables agentic operations and orchestration, intelligent model routing and token optimization, AI platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and MLOps capabilities powered by Red Hat AI; token charging and billing via Mavenir Digital Enablement, closed-loop service assurance, zero trust identity, authentication and AI security, all supported on the carrier-grade container infrastructure of Red Hat OpenShift, the industry’s leading hybrid cloud application platform powered by Kubernetes.

Three Operating Models

The platform supports three distinct operating models, giving operators flexibility in how they deploy and monetize AI:

Enterprise AI Platform: The operator offers metered access to AI models, compute resources and AI tooling to enterprise customers as a value-added service alongside existing connectivity contracts. Enterprise customers deploy their own applications or consume AI APIs on a usage basis. The operator provides infrastructure and platform SLAs; enterprise application SLAs are governed by the specific service agreement between operator and customer.

AI Grid Infrastructure: The operator uses the platform as the compute and AI fabric for AI grid deployments, hosting network-embedded AI applications and third-party workloads on operator-controlled infrastructure. The platform provides infrastructure-level availability guarantees; application performance and service levels are the responsibility of the application owner unless the operator packages the application as its own managed offering.

Operator AI Services: The operator runs the platform to deliver AI-powered products and services to its own subscribers. This includes AI assistant plans billed by token consumption, AI-enhanced network services, and operator-branded AI applications. The operator owns the commercial relationship, sets the SLAs, and retains full control over pricing, branding and service quality.

The platform is designed to deliver tangible outcomes, including:

• New AI revenue streams through bundled token plans from basic consumer tiers to unlimited enterprise quotas.
• Predictable AI economics by shifting the majority of traffic to on-premises models with hard spend caps on any frontier model usage.
• Data sovereignty by design, with all subscriber data and model weights remaining on operator infrastructure under normal operations.
• Contractual SLAs for operator-managed AI services backed by closed-loop service assurance, with platform-level availability guarantees extending to enterprise and AI Grid workloads.
• A rapid path to revenue through pre-validated deployment playbooks, with Mavenir’s own production deployment serving as the reference architecture.
• Enterprise-grade security through zero trust identity controls and AI-specific threat protection that meet the compliance requirements of regulated communications environments.

“Operators are watching AI revenues flow to hyperscalers and third-party platforms while they provide the connectivity that makes it all possible. This changes today. The Integrated AI Platform developed in collaboration between Mavenir and Red Hat gives operators the infrastructure to become AI service providers in their own right. Operators gain sovereign control over models and data, token-accurate monetization that integrates with their existing BSS, and the service assurance to back their own managed AI services with contractual SLAs. Whether operators are launching subscriber AI services, building out their AI grid infrastructure, or offering AI capabilities to enterprise customers on a consumption basis, the platform provides the commercial and operational controls to do it at carrier scale. For the most demanding use cases, the platform also provides policy-governed access to frontier models, so operators are never constrained by what runs on-premises. This is built from the ground up for operator monetization requirements.” Bejoy Pankajakshan, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Mavenir

“In today’s AI-driven world, network operators now more than ever require high availability, data sovereignty and carrier-grade reliability to scale AI across millions of subscribers. Working with Mavenir, we’re delivering an integrated solution supported on the Kubernetes-native foundation powered by Red Hat AI, which brings MLOps, vLLM inference and AgentOps capabilities. This hybrid architecture allows operators to run sovereign on-premises models for the bulk of their traffic and selectively connect to frontier models for tasks that require it, all through a single policy and billing framework. Together, we give operators a path from AI experimentation to AI monetization without rebuilding their operations model.” Chris Wright, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Global Engineering, Red Hat

Join Mavenir at DTW Ignite 2026, 23–25 June – booth #334:   
At DTW Ignite, Mavenir will be showcasing how AI-by-design software delivers tangible network outcomes: unleashing 5G Core network innovation, unlocking new service revenues on the one hand and radically improving operational efficiency on the other.

About Mavenir 

Mavenir is enabling intelligent, automated, programmable networks through the development of telco-first, cloud-native, AI-by-design software solutions for mobile operators. The company’s deep telco domain expertise has been proven through deployments with 300+ operators globally in over 120 countries, which together serve more than 50% of the world’s subscribers. Mavenir combines its deep telco experience with the cloud and IT expertise and data science skillsets essential to solving real customer challenges. Its proven software solutions are AI by design, delivering the AI-native future and operators’ evolution to TechCos. For more information, please visit www.mavenir.com

PR Contacts:

Mavenir:
Emmanuela Spiteri
[email protected]

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9748456

Workvivo HQ brings communication, knowledge, and AI together in one platform designed to help every employee find answers, get work done, and stay connected

CORK, Ireland, June 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Workvivo by Zoom today unveiled Workvivo HQ, an AI-native digital headquarters that unites communication, knowledge, and action in one intelligent platform. Designed for every employee, from frontline workers to corporate teams, Workvivo HQ gives every organization one place where work gets done.

Workvivo HQ launches at a pivotal moment, as organizations invest in AI and look for trusted ways to help every employee benefit from its potential. Built on Zoom’s AI technology, the platform creates a single, intelligent headquarters where employees can start their day, find information they need, get work done, and stay informed, without the need to switch between tools. By bringing AI directly into the flow of everyday work, Workvivo HQ helps organizations close the gap between AI investment and real workforce impact.

“Every employee deserves a headquarters,” said John Goulding, CEO and Co-Founder of Workvivo. “The future of work isn’t another AI tool. It’s an employee experience where communication, knowledge, and AI come together seamlessly. Workvivo HQ gives organizations a digital headquarters for the AI era, one place where every employee can find answers, take action, and stay connected to what matters most.”

A New Era for the Employee Experience: Giving Work a Home

The launch of Workvivo HQ represents the most significant evolution of the Workvivo platform since joining Zoom in 2023 and a bold new step forward for employee experience in the AI era. It reflects a fundamental shift in how organizations think about employee experience, from a destination for communication and engagement to a foundation for productivity, knowledge, and AI-powered work.

Workvivo HQ is powered by Zoom’s AI and its federated approach, the same foundation behind ZoomMate, which leverages its own proprietary AI models, along with those from leading AI companies OpenAI, Anthropic, and others. Intelligence is woven into the employee experience, making AI a natural part of everyday work rather than another standalone destination.

With Workvivo HQ, employees can:

• Access company knowledge, policies, documents, and expertise quickly
• Understand employee sentiment and workplace trends through AI-powered people intelligence
• Stay informed with AI-generated summaries, recaps, and personalized updates
• Create communications, announcements, and content faster with AI-powered writing assistance
• Reach employees where they are, from the frontline to the corporate office, through personalized AI-powered experiences
• Turn questions into completed work with HQ Agent, taking action across connected systems

Introducing HQ Agent

Workvivo also introduced HQ Agent, an agentic AI layer that extends Workvivo HQ beyond the platform itself and connects employees to the broader enterprise technology stack.

By connecting with more than 60 enterprise systems, including Gmail, Google Drive, Jira, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday, and other business applications, HQ Agent can understand requests, retrieve information, coordinate work across systems, and take action on behalf of employees. While Workvivo HQ helps employees communicate and find answers, HQ Agent helps them act on them.

“When we started designing Workvivo HQ, we weren’t just asking how to add more AI to the workplace. We were asking how to make work feel simpler,” said Andrea Graham, Head of Product and Engineering at Workvivo. “The result is an experience that brings together communication, knowledge, and action in one place, helping employees spend less time searching and more time getting meaningful work done.”

Built for Workforce-Wide AI Adoption

Today, Workvivo serves more than 10 million users worldwide and is trusted by more than 1,300 organizations across 200+ countries and territories. With industry-leading adoption and engagement, Workvivo is uniquely positioned to help organizations operationalize AI across their workforce.

Workvivo HQ also brings together capabilities of Seer by Workvivo, integrating employee listening and people intelligence directly into the employee experience. By combining communication, workforce insights, and AI in one platform, organizations gain a deeper understanding of employee needs while equipping leaders with the tools to drive engagement, support change, and make more informed decisions.

The launch comes as organizations seek to scale AI adoption across increasingly diverse workforces. New research commissioned by Workvivo, The Frontline AI Gap** found significant differences in workplace AI adoption, with 62% of desk workers reporting regular or occasional AI use compared to just 32% of frontline workers.

Unlike many enterprise AI solutions that primarily serve desk-based employees, Workvivo HQ delivers a full AI-powered experience across desktop and mobile, helping organizations close this gap and extend the benefits of AI to every employee, including frontline and deskless workers.

“The organizations that succeed with AI will be the ones that make it useful, accessible, and relevant for every employee,” said Goulding. “AI transformation can’t be limited to knowledge workers. It must reach the entire workforce. Workvivo HQ was built to help make that possible.”

To learn more about Workvivo HQ, visit www.workvivo.com/hq.

**In 2026, Workvivo commissioned an independent research firm, TrendCandy, to survey 4,736 frontline and desk employees across multiple industries and countries. Respondents were vetted and sourced using selected B2B sample panels across the globe, employing quality checks like double vetting, double-blind recruiting, engagement quality checks, randomization and other methodology best practices.

About Workvivo by Zoom

Workvivo by Zoom is the market-leading, AI-native employee experience platform for global enterprises. It brings communications, engagement, knowledge, and people intelligence together in one mobile-first platform designed around people and adoption from day one. By orchestrating the employee experience across channels and systems, Workvivo helps organizations communicate with clarity, surface fast answers through AI, and turn insight into action at scale.

Recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Intranet Platforms, Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant for Intranet Packaged Solutions, and a Customers’ Choice in Gartner Peer Insights, Workvivo supports over 10 million users worldwide across leading global brands including Amazon, Delta, Motherson, White Castle, Heineken, Bupa, Ryanair, and Verizon. Founded in 2017 and acquired by Zoom in 2023, Workvivo continues to redefine how organizations connect and align their workforce. For more information, visit http://www.workvivo.com.

Media Contact
Vineetha Pathrose
[email protected]

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9748455