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American Standard Completes Medical Business Exit With DiaSorin Sale

3 August 2000

American Standard Completes Medical Business Exit With DiaSorin Sale

    PISCATAWAY, N.J. - American Standard Companies Inc. announced today a 
definitive agreement to sell its DiaSorin medical unit to a group consisting of 
SNIA, a $1.2 billion high-tech industrial firm; Interbanca, a leading Italian 
merchant bank; Iniziativa Piemonte, a private equity firm; and four members of 
DiaSorin's current management.  The sale, subject to regulatory approvals, has 
been approved by the boards of all companies involved, and is expected to close 
in the third quarter of this year.

    The sale includes DiaSorin's blood-testing products as well as its
Copalis and other diagnostic analyzer systems.   DiaSorin has factories in
Jundiai, Brazil; Saluggia, Italy; and Stillwater, Minnesota, in the United
States.  Upon completion of the transaction, these locations and more than 500
employees will become part of the new business being established by the
buyers.

    In October 1999, American Standard announced its intention to sell the
medical businesses.  Since then, the company has treated DiaSorin as a
discontinued operation.  The reserves established in the fourth quarter of
1999 cover the cost of the company's exit from the medical businesses.

    "We are now completely out of the medical business," said Frederic Poses,
American Standard chairman and CEO.  "We're pleased with this sale for our
shareowners, customers and employees."

    American Standard is a global manufacturer with market leading positions
in three businesses:  Trane(R), the United States' leading supplier of central
air conditioning systems and service for commercial and institutional
buildings and a premier brand for residential buildings; American Standard(R)
and Ideal Standard(R), the world's largest manufacturer of plumbing products;
and WABCO(R), the leading supplier of electronic braking and control systems
to the world's manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks and buses.  The company
employs approximately 58,000 people in 36 countries.  American Standard is
included in the Standard & Poor's MidCap 400 Index.