It is manufactured by the Dial Corporation, a U.S. subsidiary of Germany's Henkel Corporation. It takes its name from a sister product, Purex plus OXI, Purex bleach, which was a widely popular competitor to Clorox bleach. In 1982 Purex Industries was acquired in a leveraged buyout by Gibbons, Green and van Amerongen Ltd., the predecessor of Leonard Green & Partners.