CELANESE AG EMERGES AS INDEPENDENT COMPANY

Celanese AG emerged as an independent public corporation with the start of trading of its shares on both the New York (NYSE) and Frankfurt (Germany) Stock Exchanges.

This marks the return of Celanese to the New York Stock Exchange after an absence of 12 years. Celanese had been traded on the NYSE from 1930 until 1987, when Hoechst AG of Frankfurt, Germany, acquired the company. Celanese AG was formed through the demerger of Hoechst's industrial chemicals businesses as part of the realignment of Hoechst as a life sciences company. Celanese AG will be headquartered in Kronberg, Germany, near Frankfurt.

With 1998 sales of $5.3 billion U.S., Celanese AG is a global leader in acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomer, acetic anhydride, cellulose acetate and polyacetal resins. The company supplies its products to manufacturers in the automotive, chemical, electrical, paints and coatings, pharmaceutical and textile industries.

For more information, contact Andrea Stine, Celanese Corporation, 86 Morris Ave., Summit, NJ 07901,908-522-7784, FAX 908-522-7583, E-mail: a.stine@celanese.com.