Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft

▪ German company

      former German chemical concern founded in 1863 in the Höchst quarter of Frankfurt am Main. Originally a producer of dyestuffs, it had become, by the late 20th century, one of the world's largest producers of pharmaceuticals. In 1999 it merged with French pharmaceutical company Rhône-Poulenc (Rhône-Poulenc SA) to create the French-German pharmaceutical firm Aventis.

      From 1863 to about 1865 the company was named Meister, Lucius & Co. (after the major founders, Wilhelm Meister and Eugen Lucius); it then became Meister, Lucius & Brüning (to include another founder, Adolf Brüning). In 1880 it was converted into a limited-liability company and gradually became known as Farbewerke Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft (Hoechst Dyeworks AG) after the area in which it was located. From 1925 to 1945 it was part of IG Farben, formerly the world's largest chemical concern; the latter was dissolved by the Allies in 1945, and Farbewerke Hoechst AG was reestablished in 1951.

      In 1970 the company acquired a majority interest in Cassella Farbewerke Mainkur Aktiengesellschaft, a German chemical corporation that had also been a member of the IG Farben cartel. Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft was adopted as the company's name in 1974. In 1987 Hoechst AG's American subsidiary, the American Hoechst Corporation, acquired the Celanese Corporation, a major American producer of synthetic fibres. Another major subsidiary, Hoechst Marion Roussel, was founded through the acquisition of American pharmaceutical firm Marion Merrell Dow Inc., which Hoechst bought in 1995, and the French drug maker Roussel Uclaf, which Hoechst acquired in full in 1997.

      Before its 1999 merger with Rhône-Poulenc, Hoechst had operations in several European nations and on other continents. Its various operations produced pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, agricultural chemicals, and animal health products. Aventis was acquired by Sanofi in 2004.

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