Milestones in the history of Ticona, Celanese and Hoechst

1863
In Höchst am Main, Carl Friedrich Meister, Eugen Lucius and Ludwig August Müller set up a coal-tar dye factory, later to become Farbwerke Hoechst. Initially the workforce consists of chemist Adolf Brüning (co-partner from 1865 onwards) plus five factory workers and an office clerk. Its first product is fuchsine, a reddish violet dye that earns the plant its local nickname "The Red Factory".

1868
John Wesley Hyatt invents Celluloid, the first modern plastic. His company is the forerunner of the Celluloid Corporation.

1880
By going public under the name "Farbwerke vorm. Meister Lucius & Brüning", the company adopts the modern legal structure of a German "Aktiengesellschaft" (joint stock company).

1883
The dye factory's wide range of chemical precursor products and intermediates is augmented by pharmaceuticals, the first being the antipyretic and analgesic drug Antipyrin. This marks the factory's transformation into a multi-faceted chemical company.

1901-15
The first subsidiaries are set up in Moscow, Paris and Manchester. In 1901, Emil von Behring receives the first Nobel Prize for Medicine in recognition of his work on serum therapy. Not long afterwards, Robert Koch and Paul Ehrlich, both close collaborators with Hoechst, are also awarded the Nobel Prize for the results of their research.

1912
The chemist Henri Dreyfus, together with his brother Camille and the entrepreneur Alexander Clavel-Respinger, establishes "Cellonit Gesellschaft Dreyfus & Co." in Basel.

1913
The Cellonit Company begins operations and conducts important development work into the manufacture of photographic film material. The product range is diversified to include paints for German "flying machines" and Zeppelin airships.

1916
The "British Celanese & Chemical Manufacturing Co." comes into existence, managed by Henri Dreyfus.

1917
"The American Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Company" (Amcelle) is established in New York under the management of Camille Dreyfus.

1921
British Celanese produces the first commercial acetate yarns.

1925-45
The dyeworks in Höchst, together with other large German chemical companies (including BASF and Bayer), constitute part of I.G. Farbenindustrie AG.

1926
Celanese Canada is formed.

1927 The Dreyfus brothers acquire a controlling interest in the Celluloid Corporation. The Dreyfus brothers' US subsidiary is renamed "Celanese Corporation of America". It produces fibres, plastics and chemicals and becomes one of America's major chemical manufacturers. 1941 The Celanese Corporation of America merges with the Celluloid Corporation.

1945-60
In the US, Celanese converts to petroleum-based chemistry. It sets up production facilities in the Texan towns of Bishop (1945), Corpus Christi (1946) and Pampa (1952) to produce acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, methanol and acetone. Celanese fibres remain the company's most important product.

1951
Following the break-up of I.G. Farbenindustrie AG, the company of "Farbwerke Hoechst AG vorm. Meister Lucius & Brüning" is re-established (eventually being renamed Hoechst AG in 1969). In later years the raw material basis is converted from coal to petroleum, and the company begins the large-scale production of synthetic fibres, plastics and polymer films. At the same time the traditional business areas of dyes, pharmaceuticals and crop protection are further expanded.

1961 Celanese Corporation of America and Hoechst AG establish Ticona Polymerwerke as a joint venture with headquarters at Kelsterbach, Germany. Production of the acetal copolymer Hostaform® POM, a high-performance plastic for technical applications, starts at Kelsterbach in 1963.

1964
Celanese and Daicel Chemical Co., Ltd. establish a joint venture, Polyplastics Co., Ltd., to manufacture polyacetal in Japan under the trade name of Duracon® POM.

1987
Hoechst takes over the Celanese Corporation, which is then merged with the American Hoechst Corporation to form the Hoechst Celanese Corporation in the US. Celanese activities augment Hoechst's business in fibres, organic chemicals and petroleum-derived basic chemicals, as well as speciality chemicals.

1988
Hoechst Celanese buys Polymer Composites Inc.. That same year sees the establishment of TEPCO, the Taiwan Engineering Plastics Company, as a joint venture between Hoechst Celanese, Hoechst AG, Polyplastics, the Chang Group of Taiwan and Hoechst Taiwan.

1992 Fortron Industries, a company for producing polyphenylene sulphide (Fortron® PPS), is set up as a joint venture by Hoechst Celanese and Kureha Chemical.

1994
The restructuring of the Hoechst Group begins with its reorganisation into global business units.

1997
Hoechst AG is converted into a strategic management holding. Its worldwide basic chemicals and cellulose acetate operations, along with its phosphorus and chlorine activities, are brought together under the Celanese umbrella, while engineering plastics are concentrated in Ticona, which operates as an independent entity.

1998
Hoechst announces the planned spin-off of most of its industrial chemicals activities to the new Celanese AG. Together with Rhône-Poulenc, Hoechst also announces the merger of the two companies to form the new Aventis S.A.

1999 Celanese AG is listed as an independent public limited company on the stock exchanges of New York and Frankfurt.

2003
Blackstone Capital Partners announced its 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).

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.

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

2006
Effective January 1, 2006, Ticona/Celanese sold their global COC business to the Japanese companies Daicel and Polyplastics and transfered into a new entity with the name Topas Advanced Polymers.