As part of its ongoing process of restructuring, the technical polymer business of the Hoechst Group (HQ: D-65926 Frankfurt) has been spun off into an independent company named Ticona GmbH (PO Box 1320, D-65451 Kelsterbach) with effect from the 1st July 1997, while Ticona Corp in the USA will come into existence from 1st January 1998.

The new company will consist of three business units: polyacetal/nylon, UHMWPE/cycloolefin copolymers and performance polymers. Together with its affiliate Polyplastics in Japan, Ticona has a global market share of about 11% in high performance resins with 1996 sales of DEM 1.3bn.

The largest share of this business is taken by polyacetal/ nylon 66 which accounted for 63% of sales volume in 1996. Ticona is market leader in acetals with a share in excess of 40% in a global market of 0.5m t. With an 18,000 t/y expansion for its Kelsterbach plant in 1998 and a new plant planned in Malaysia, Ticona's global capacity will be 300,000 t/y by 2000. In nylon it is a smaller player with annual sales of over 20,000 t and production facilities in the USA.

For ultra high molecular weight PE (UHMWPE), Ticona is clear market leader with 50% of a 65,000 t global market. Expansion is planned in China through a joint venture operation. This business unit also includes the new "Topas" cycloolefin copolymers.

The performance polymers division includes "Fortron" linear PPS, "Vectra" liquid crystal polymer and polyesters. It has market leadership in LCP (over 65% of 7,000 t/y demand) and ranks itself number two in the market for PBT/PET and linear PPS. For polyesters 32,000 t/y of additional capacity will be available during 1997. Press conference speech by Ticona President, Bernd Sassenrath: PIE-No. 41174 – Press releases on new developments and strategies concerning Hoechst Technical Polymers: PIE-No. 41175.