Hoechst mergers

Stock listing NYSE, Paris Bourse, Frankfurt SE AVE Note Formed from the merger of Rlione-Poulenc (France) and Hoechst (Germany)... 

DyStar, formed by the merger of Hoechst and Bayer (1995), acquisition of BASF textile colors which include the former Zeneca, and Mitsubishi of Japan, Germany... 

However, between 1998 and 1999, some dramatic shifts occurred as the result of a number of large mergers and acquisitions. On the one hand, Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc spun off their traditional chemicals businesses (to become Cela-nese and Rhodia) and merged their life science divisions into a new entity (called Aventis). On the other hand, several other companies - mainly oil-based -merged their businesses in order to gain economies of scale. The result was that several new names appeared among 1999 s top ten BP Amoco, Dow/Union Carbide, ExxonMobil, and TotalFinaElf... 

Companies that choose the former approach radically refocus their entire business portfoHos via extensive mergers and acquisitions, like Hoechst or ICl. Those selecting the smoother transition, such as BASF, target their efforts at strengthening existing core businesses through operational excellence and selected M As. 

Chemical companies have taken a number of different routes. Hiils and Hoechst, for example, before their respective mergers with Degussa and Rhone-Poulenc, integrated a great many corporate service functions into their divisions and spun off all infrastructure functions into a separate site management company ( industrial park ). Monsanto has moved its central services into a central business division called Monsanto Business Systems, while Bayer favors a strong corporate center with five corporate divisions and seven central service divisions. 

Matters inevitably become even more difficult when fundamental cultural differences are compounded by linguistic ones. This was a particular challenge, for example, in the formation of Aventis from the merger of Hoechst and Rhone-Pou-lenc s pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals activities. 

Cell division began in the Swiss based chemical industry in 1995 with Sandoz. It spun off its specialty chemicals business under the name of Clariant, which later merged with Hoechst s specialty chemicals activities. In 1996 we saw the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz to form Novartis, which focused exclusively on pharmaceuticals and crop protection agents. This was followed by the spin-off of Ciba specialty chemicals, as it no longer fitted in with the life sciences concept. 

Philip M. Weintraub completed his Masters and Ph.D. degrees at The Ohio State University under the direction of Michael P. Cava. After a brief stint at the DuPont Experimental Station, he took a position at Hess Clark, a veterinary pharmaceutical division of Richardson Merrell. In 1970 he was transferred to the Wm S. Merrell Pharmaceutical Co. where he remained through several mergers. In 1998, with the formation of Hoechst-Marion-Roussel, he moved to Bridgewater, New Jersey where he remains through two more mergers as a medicinal chemist. He was an editor of Annual Reports in Organic Synthesis from 1990-2004. 

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