Annual General Meeting 2003.

Business Editors

KRONBERG, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 2003

- Celanese shareholders strongly support management

- Excellent progress made in 2002

- Outlook for first half of 2003 unchanged

At today's Annual General Meeting in Oberhausen, Celanese AG (CZZ: FSE; CZ: NYSE) took stock of the year 2002 and concluded that the company made excellent progress during the year. At the meeting, the Board of Management also reiterated its outlook for the first half of 2003 and received the strong support of shareholders.

In his address to shareholders, Chief Executive Officer Claudio Sonder emphasized that despite the difficult economic environment, the company has made great progress, both from a strategic as well as an operative point of view. As a result, Celanese is now more profitable, more focused and a leading company in its markets. "This success is not the result of short-term measures and favorable economic conditions but the product of our long-term efforts to position Celanese on the road to growth and productivity."

Since the start in 1999 Celanese has invested about EUR1 billion in both external and internal growth. At the same time, net financial debt has been significantly reduced to EUR 497 million as a result of divestitures and sound cash-management. "The start-up and reorganization phases of Celanese AG and the significant restructuring that they entailed are behind us," said Claudio Sonder. "In 2002, we reaped the first fruit from these measures. Growth and productivity are strategic goals looking forward."

Outlook for 2003

In its outlook for 2003, the Board of Management explained that the beginning of 2003 was marked by rising and volatile natural gas prices, a difficult economic environment and geopolitical uncertainty.

Chief Operating Officer David Weidman said that in order to cushion the impact of rising raw material prices, Celanese had raised selling prices for most chemical products effective January 1. Further price increases have been announced for the second quarter. At the beginning of the current year, capacity utilization in the Acetyl Products segment remained at the relatively high levels seen in 2002. At Ticona, volumes rose as a result of re-stocking and a modest strengthening in demand.

Summing up, Chief Financial Officer Perry Premdas said: "Taking current economic conditions and our continuing efforts to raise efficiency and productivity into account, we continue to believe EBITDA excluding special charges in the first half of 2003 will match or slightly exceed the year-earlier level."

Shareholders vote in favor of agenda items

Celanese shareholders voted in favor of the proposed dividend of EUR 0.44 per registered share. Payment of the dividend will take place from April 2, 2003.

Shareholders also overwhelmingly approved the agenda items concerning the buy-back of Celanese shares, the contingent capital increase to grant option rights to management, and Supervisory Board remuneration.

As in previous years, shareholders were able to follow the Annual General Meeting and to vote on the agenda items via the Internet.

Well balanced shareholder structure

The most recent survey of the shareholder structure of Celanese (status: January 2003) showed that the structure is well-balanced internationally. Celanese' global registered share, listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt and New York, is proving increasingly attractive to international investors. North American investors' share rose to 35%, compared with around 29% a year earlier and about 14 % at the end of 1999. North American investors now hold almost as many shares as European investors, who hold 36% of the total. German shareholders account for 23%. Kuwait Petroleum Corp. remains the largest single shareholder with 29%.

The growing interest in the Celanese share among international shareholders has also led to a rise in the number of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Last year, 35% of all traded shares changed hands in New York.

Further information on the AGM:

You can find the speeches and presentations of the board members on www.celanese.com where a video recording of the speeches is also available.

Celanese timeline for 2003:

April 30 Report on the 1st quarter

July 29 Report on the 2nd quarter

October 30 Report on the 3rd quarter

Celanese AG is a global chemicals company with leading positions in its key products and world class process technology. The Celanese portfolio consists of five main businesses: Acetyl Products, Chemical Intermediates, Acetate Products, Technical Polymers Ticona and Performance Products. Celanese generated sales of around EUR 4.3 billion in 2002 and has 10,700 employees. The company has 25 production plants and six research centers in 11 countries mainly in North America, Europe and Asia. Celanese AG shares are listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange (stock exchange symbol CZZ) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol CZ). For further information please visit www.celanese.com

Forward-looking statements (statements which are not historical facts) in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those risks and uncertainties detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available from the Company.

Our 2003 outlook reflects our performance measure EBITDA excluding special charges, which is not calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The most directly comparable financial measure in our financial statements presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP is operating profit. For reconciliation of operating profit to EBITDA excluding special charges see the attached table. A reconciliation of EBITDA excluding special charges to cash flow is not available. Reconciliations of any forward-looking non-U.S. GAAP measures to U.S. GAAP measures are also not available.