Rockwood Press Release

Rockwood Holdings, Inc. Announces
October 16 Analyst/Investor Day —
Conference and Webcast

Princeton, NJ (October 9, 2006) – Rockwood Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ROC, Rockwood), a global producer of specialty chemicals and advanced materials, is hosting an analyst/investor day in New York City on Monday, October 16, from 12:30 to 5 pm. The presentations will include reviews of the company's key businesses by its operating management team, as well as a discussion of future strategy and a financial review by Seifi Ghasemi, Rockwood chairman and chief executive officer, and Robert J. Zatta, Rockwood senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Rockwood also announced that a listen-only, live webcast of the presentation will be available at www.rocksp.com. Materials for the call, including a PowerPoint file detailing the results, will be available for download on the site on the morning of the call. The webcast and PowerPoint file will be archived on Rockwoods website.

To access a listen-only, live webcast of the conference call please click here. All presentation materials will be available live via webcast.

The Rockwood conference will be held at the St. Regis Hotel, 2 E. 55th Street, New York City. For further details, contact Timothy McKenna, at the above number.

Rockwood Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ROC) is the ultimate parent company of Rockwood Specialties Group, Inc., a leading global specialty chemicals and advanced materials company. Rockwood has a worldwide employee base of approximately 10,800 people and net revenue of approximately $3.1 billion in 2005. The company focuses on global niche segments of the specialty chemicals and advanced materials markets, including specialty chemicals, performance additives, titanium dioxide pigments, advanced ceramics, custom synthesis, specialty compounds and electronics. For more information on Rockwood, please visit www.rocksp.com.

The conference call and webcast may contain certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning the business, operations and financial condition of Rockwood Holdings, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Rockwood"). Words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "predicts" and variations of such words or expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although Rockwood believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that its expectations will be realized. "Forward-looking statements" consist of all non-historical information, including the statements referring to the prospects and future performance of Rockwood. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in Rockwood's forward-looking statements due to numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, among other things, the "Risk Factors" described in Rockwood's securities filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K. Rockwood does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which any such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.