Celanese - History

History

In 1918, the American Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Company was founded in New York by Camille Dreyfus.

A Celanese plant was located at Amcelle, Maryland between Cumberland and Cresaptown. The plant was served by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), and was a major consumer of coal. It received bulk shipments of industrial chemicals and raw cotton fiber, and shipped out its fabric products in quantity. The B&O also provided passenger service to the plant, for Celanese workers. The plant had its own extensive networks of rail lines on the property. It became a major employer in Allegany County, and most families in the area have one or more relatives that worked for the plant at its peak. At one time, 13,000 employees worked there.

The American Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Co. Ltd plant was set up during World War I to produce cheaper fabric for airplane manufacturing. The plant location was chosen inland to protect against Zeppelin attacks. It was also situated in proximity to a ready source of water at the Potomac River, and easy access to coal supplies and railroad lines. After a series of delays, actual production began in 1924 with a series of cellulose acetate commercial fabrics and yarns intended as alternatives to silk. The plant was closed in 1983, and was later torn down to provide a space for a new state prison.

In 1927, the American Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Company changed its name to Celanese Corporation of America. In 1986, its pharmaceutical business was spun off as Celgene, and, in 1987, Celanese Corporation was acquired by Hoechst and merged with its American subsidiary, American Hoechst, to form Hoechst Celanese Corporation.

In 1998, Hoechst combined most of its industrial chemical operations in a new company, Celanese AG, and, in 1999, Hoechst spun off Celanese AG as a publicly-traded, German corporation, traded on both the Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges.

On 16 December 2003, the U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group announced a takeover offer for Celanese, after two years of wooing management. Shareholders formally approved the offer from Blackstone on 16 June 2004, and Blackstone completed the acquisition of Celanese AG. The company was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, and Blackstone changes its name to Celanese Corporation. Under Blackstone, a number of streamlining initiatives were undertaken, and several acquisitions were made.

On 21, January 2005, Celanese Corporation conducted an initial public offering and became a publicly-traded corporation traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CE". When Blackstone sold the last of its shares in 2007, it had made five times what it had invested and it, and its co-investors collected a $2.9 billion profit.

Celanese has a process to make ethanol from natural gas.