CELANESE AG APPROVES FLORENCE, KENTUCKY AS THE FUTURE NORTH AMERICAN HEADQUARTERS OF TICONA

  FLORENCE, KY - Celanese AG today announced that its Board of Management has approved Florence, Kentucky to become the new North American regional headquarters of Ticona, its technical polymers business. This follows the decision to close the Summit, New Jersey site, which was announced earlier this year, and move operations to another Ticona U.S. site in order to consolidate key functions to enhance customer service and improve internal operations. The main functions moving to Florence are Marketing, Product and Application Development, Customer Service, Administration as well as Research and Development.

"Centrally located and rich with talent and vitality, Florence provides the ideal climate for starting, growing or nourishing a company – large or small. Ticona's decision to locate the new North American regional headquarters here is a testament to the many benefits Northern Kentucky has to offer," stated Governor Paul E. Patton.

"Our goal is to best position Ticona for growth and productivity, and therefore we decided to make a strategic investment to position us as a key growth business of Celanese AG" said Ticona president Lyndon Cole. "Florence was selected after carefully considering all site options in terms of the impact on the further development of Ticona. We concluded that the move to Florence will best enable us to achieve our goals of enhancing our commercialization velocity and improving our service to customers by reducing complexity and exploiting synergies resulting in more effectiveness and speed to market."

"Northern Kentucky's modern transportation system utilizes air, ground transportation, rail and waterways to provide direct routes to every U.S. market, as well as international ports," commented Gene Strong, Secretary of the Cabinet for Economic Development. "I believe Ticona's strategy of placing their headquarters in Florence will prove to be a successful endeavor."

The operation will consist of a 122,000 square foot regional headquarters and R&D facility. The project is expected to create 150 new Kentucky tax-paying jobs with an estimated investment of $18 million.

The relocation is expected to begin with the transfer of some administrative personnel during 2003 and will be completed when product development and supporting functions are relocated, by the end of 2004. Ticona currently employs around 130 people in Florence, where it has operated specialty-compounding facilities for the last 19 years.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development is the primary state agency in Kentucky responsible for creating new jobs and new investment in the state. New business investment in Kentucky in 2002 totaled more than $3.2 billion with the creation of nearly 13,000 new jobs. Information on available development sites, workforce training, incentive programs, community profiles, small business development and other resources is available at www.thinkkentucky.com.