NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 1999 - Kristi Yamaguchi displayed her gold medal style in a new "arena" today as she joined Celanese AG and NYSE executives in ringing the bell this morning at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), signaling the first day of trading of the new Celanese AG (NYSE: CZ).The Olympic figure skating gold medalist, who is the official apparel fiber spokesperson for Celanese Acetate, joined Celanese Chief Financial Officer Perry Premdas and Chief Executive Officer Richard Grasso at the podium, along with other Celanese management board members Knut Zeptner, CEO of Celanese Chemicals and Acetates, and Ed Munoz, CEO of Ticona. The chairman of Celanese's Super advisory Board Guenther Metz was also on hand.
During the traditional, ceremonial trading of gifts, Mr. Premdas presented Mr. Grasso with a baseball jacket made of the Celanese acetate fiber. The jacket, which carries the Celanese and NYSE logos, is keeping with the baseball theme of the company's listing advertisement, which states, "Ready for the challenge. Celanese is back at the plate."
Celanese reemerged today as an independent, publicly traded company today as an result of a demerger from Hoechst AG and it's listing on both the Frankfurt, Germany, and New York Stock exchanges. Celanese will be based in Kronberg, Germany, near Frankfurt.
Celanese is the world's largest acetate producer. Ms. Yamaguchi appears in all of Celanese Acetate Textile's fashion advertisements, promotional materials, retail promotions and publicity campaigns. She also makes personal appearances on behalf of the company.
For her public appearances, she appears in outfits of acetate fiber from the leading women's fashion designers. According to Ellen Sweeney of Celanese Acetate Textiles, "We choose Kristi Yamaguchi to represent our Celanese acetate fiber because of her accomplishments as a top American athlete who loves fashion. Our advertisements feature Kristi as a vital young women in all types of clothing - from evening gowns to weekend wear - rather than in skating themes. We believe that she is exciting to watch on the ice and exciting and appealing in our campaign."
The Celanese Acetate Textile's ad campaign has appeared in magazines such as Talk, Elle, Marie Claire, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Women's Wear Daily and W. Acetate is found in women's designer lines, sportswear collections, evening dresses, coats, sweaters, pants, golf wear and intimate apparel. Acetate is frequently combined with other fibers.
Celanese acetate facilities for acetate fiber are located in Narrows, VA; Rock Hill, S.C.; Ocotlan, Mexico; Drummondville, Canada; and Lanaken, Belgium.
Ms. Yamaguchi, 28, won the Olympic gold medal in figure skating at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France. A month later, she won the World Championship in Oakland, Calif. In the past four years, Ms. Yamaguchi has won almost every professional championships she has entered. According to Verne Lundquist of CBS, "Kristi Yamaguchi is the best figure skater in the world." In 1998, the Burns Sports Survey named her one of the five best-dressed female athletes in the world.
With 1998 sales of 5.2 billion euros (US $5.3 billion), Celanese AG is a leading global industrial chemicals company, with major market positions in acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomer, acetate anhydride, cellulose acetate and polyacetal resins. The company supplies chemicals, acetate fibers and technical polymers to manufacturers in the automotive, chemical, electrical, paints and coating, pharmaceutical and textile industries. The company employs 17,500 people and has 34 productions plants and 5 research centers covering the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
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Full text copyright: Celanese Acetate and the NYSE.
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