Celanese - Building on a strong foundation



1912 Henri Dreyfus, who was working for Hoffmann La Roche at the time, asks the entrepreneur Alexander Clavel-Respinger for financial support and assistance in the production of fireproof celluloid out of cellulose acetate. On December 28, 1912, Clavel, along with Henri and his brother Camille set up "Cellonit Gesellschaft Dreyfus & Co." in Basle.

1913 The company "Cellonit" is established. Cellonit contributes greatly to the development of new film materials and finds a sponsor in the Parisian film industrialist Pathe. The product line is diversified to include paints for German airplanes and Zeppelins.

1916 The British government invites the Dreyfus brothers to Britain to produce their new airplane paint, along with the intermediate product acetic acid, which was being imported from Canada at the time due to World War I. The British Government patented the process developed by Henri Dreyfus, which lowered the costs of acetic acid anhydride production. "British Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Co." is set up. Henri Dreyfus manages the company with a workforce of 14,000.

1918 Under the guidance of Camille Dreyfus, "The American Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Company" (known as "Amcelle" for short), is founded in New York.  The company commences building a production facility in Cumberland, Maryland.

1918 The company gets into difficulties when all its paint contracts are cancelled after World War I. The Dreyfus brothers concentrate on the production of acetate fibers. "British Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Co." changes its name to "British Celanese Limited.

1921 British Celanese begins commercial production of acetate yarn, taking advantage of a number of its new inventions, ranging from the technique used to spin thread to the treatment of dyed fibres. This change in direction ensures the company's survival.

1924 Amcelle begins producing cellulose acetate in Cumberland, Maryland.

1926 Celanese Canada, a publicly traded company, is formed, with Amcelle owning the majority share. From 1927 onwards, artificial silk is produced at the Canadian factory in Drummondville.

1927  The American Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Co. changes its name to "Celanese Corporation of America". The company, which will move on to produce plastics and chemicals, as well as fibers, will become one of the largest chemicals manufacturers in the country.

1930 Celanese Corporation of America commences trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

1944 Celanese Mexicana SA, a publicly traded company, is formed by Celanese and a Mexican group headed by Banco Nacional de Mexico SA. and begins producing acetate fiber at its plant near Ocotlan in 1947.

1945-1960 In the U.S., Celanese establishes production plants in Texas (Bishop in 1945, and Pampa in 1952) for the production of acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, methanol und acetone. But Celanese fibers remain the company's most important product line. The use of acetate tow in cigarette filters opens up a new business area.

1956 Camille Dreyfus dies. He was one of the founders of Celanese and was President of Celanese Corporation of America for 27 years. Following the death of his brother and co-founder, Henri in 1945, Camille Dreyfus was also Managing Director of British Celanese.

1961 Celanese Corporation of America and Hoechst AG set up the Ticona Polymerwerke joint venture in Kelsterbach, Germany. The production of Hostaform, a high-performance plastic for technical applications, begins in 1963.

1964 Celanese Corporation of America and Daicel Ltd. form Polyplastics Co., Ltd., a joint venture in Japan to produce and market acetal copolymer under Celanese licensing in Japan and the Far East.  Bay City plant commences production.

1967 Clear Lake plant commences production.

1987 Hoechst AG acquires Celanese Corporation for $2.85 billion. After the approval of the friendly takeover by U.S. regulators on February 20, 1987, Celanese and American Hoechst Corporation join forces to form Hoechst Celanese Corporation in the U.S. Celanese strengthens Hoechst's fiber, organic chemical and specialty chemical businesses.

1994 "Transition '94" begins the realignment of the Group and the introduction of a new organizational structure.

1997 As a result of the strategic realignment of Hoechst AG, the various businesses are transferred to independent companies. The global basic chemical, cellulose acetate, phosphorous and chlorine businesses become part of Celanese. The independent company Ticona - market leader in the field of polyacetals - runs the technical polymers business.
In May, the Annual General Meeting approves the realignment of the Group. On July 1, Hoechst AG becomes a Strategic Management Holding company.

1998 At its autumn press conference, Hoechst announces plans to demerge most of its chemical activities to the new Celanese AG.
On December 1, Hoechst and Rhône-Poulenc S.A. announce their plans to merge their life science businesses into the new company Aventis S.A., based in Strasbourg.

July 15-16, 1999 At an extraordinary General Meeting of Hoechst AG, shareholders approve the demerger of Celanese AG into an independent company. The demerger is part of Hoechst's strategy of focussing on its life science businesses.

October 25, 1999 Celanese AG becomes a publicly traded stock corporation, listed on the New York (NYSE: CZ) and Frankfurt (CZZ) stock exchanges.

1999 Celanese receives gross proceeds of more than Euro1 billion from the sale of non-core businesses. Acquires the outstanding 44% of Celanese Canada and a 50% share in Korea Engineering Plastics.

2000 Acquisition of polyvinyl alcohol business from Air Products strengthens acetyl chain.
Start-up of 500,000 metric ton acetic acid plant in Singapore and a plant for the newly engineered COC cycloolefin copolymer in Germany.

2001 Significant technological progress lead to process improvements in acetic acid and vinyl acetate monomer: Construction begins on a new and expanded Ticona plant to produce GUR ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene.

2002 Acquisition of European emulsions and global emulsion powders business from Clariant AG. Divestiture of Trespaphan oriented polyproplyene film business. Formation of a 50/50 joint venture with Hatco Corporation for the production and marketing of neopolyol esters. Celanese celebrates 75th anniversary of Ruhrchemie site in Oberhausen, Germany.

2003 Agreement to sell acrylates business to Dow Chemical. Joint venture of oxo businesses with Degussa AG completed. Preparations to build a world-scale 600,000 metric ton acetic acid plant in China begin.

Agreement with China National Tobacco Corporation to double capacities of three acetate tow joint ventures announced.
　　　Kunming Cellulose Fibers Co. Ltd　 30.0%
　　　Nantong Cellulose Fibers Co. Ltd　 31.0%
　　　Zhuhai Cellulose Fibers Co. Ltd　　 30.0%

Groundbreaking with Asian partners for new 60,000 metric ton polyacetal plant in China. Agreement to source methanol from Southern Chemical Corporation to reduce overall exposure to U.S. Gulf Coast natural gas volatility.

December 2003 Blackstone Capital Partners announces intention to launch a voluntary public offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Celanese AG.

2004 A total of 84.32% of shares are tendered and all conditions for the successful conclusion of the takeover by Blackstone are satisfied. In July, Celanese AG shares are delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Following an extraordinary shareholders' meeting, a domination and profit loss transfer agreement between Celanese AG and Blackstone is entered into the Commercial Register and becomes effective on October 1.

October 2004 Plans announced to implement a strategic restructuring of the Acetate business. As part of the restructuring, acetate filament production is to be discontinued by mid-2005 and acetate flake and tow operations are to be consolidated at three locations, instead of five.

October 2004 Blackstone signs an agreement for the takeover of Acetex Corporation in a transaction valued at almost USD$ 500 million and states its intention is to operate Acetex as part of Celanese's global chemicals business. Acetex is a Canadian corporation which produces a variety of chemicals including acetic acid, polyvinyl alcohol, vinyl acetate monomer and technical polymers.

November 2004 Blackstone Crystal Holdings Capital Partners (Cayman) IV Ltd. (the controlling legal entity of Celanese subsequent to the successful takeover of Celanese AG by Blackstone) changes its name to Celanese Corporation. Celanese Corp. is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and is the parent company of Celanese's North American operations and Celanese AG. Henceforth Celanese AG is the holding company for Celanese's European operations and most of its Asian activities.

November 2004 Celanese announces plans to purchase Vinamul Polymers, the emulsion polymer business of the ICI subsidiary National Starch and Chemical Company (NSC), for $208 million. The acquisition diversifies Celanese's product offering with higher-value chemicals that are customized for end-use applications.

January 2005 Following a successful initial public offering (IPO), Celanese Corp. becomes a publicly traded corporation on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CE).

February 2005 Celanese finalizes acquisition of the emulsion polymers company Vinamul Polymers and starts integration of sites in the U.S. and Europe into the Celanese Emulsions business.

Spring/Summer 2005 Celanese pursues the strategy of focusing on its core chemicals and technical polymer businesses, in which it holds leading market and technology positions by divesting smaller businesses like the polybenzimidazole fiber and polymer businesses PBI, the polyarylate fiber business Vectran and the emulsion powders business.

July 2005: European Commission grants unconditioned approval for the acquisition of Acetex Corporation and Celanese starts integration process of the new employees and sites.

August 2005 Celanese announced the intention to wind up Estech, a venture with Hatco Corporation for neopolyol esters.

August 2005: Celanese Europe Holding, a subsidiary of Celanese Corp, acquired approx. 11% of Celanese AG shares from two financial investors and thus reached the threshold of 95% to pursue a squeeze-out of Celanese AG.

November 2005 Celanese Corp announced its intention to initiate a squeeze-out of Celanese AG shares, subject to an approval by the Annual General Meeting of Celanese AG in 2006.

December 2005Celanese sold its common stock interest in Pemeas GmbH to Pemeas Corporation.

December 2005 Celanese Corp. sold COC business to a venture between Daicel and Polyplastics.