History of the Chemicals Business Area

It all started in 1873 with the Aktiengesellschaft Deutsche Gold- und Silber Scheideanstalt vormals Roessler, which was founded in Frankfurt. The company officially became Degussa AG in 1980 and merged with Marl-based Hüls AG in 1999 to become Degussa-Hüls AG. Hüls AG contributed its subsidiaries Röhm GmbH of Darmstadt and Stockhausen GmbH of Krefeld to the newly formed corporation.
In 2001, Degussa-Hüls AG merged with SKW Trostberg AG, established in 1908, which had shortly before acquired the well-established Essen-based company Th. Goldschmidt AG. The company formed by these two mergers was called Degussa AG and was headquartered in Düsseldorf.

Degussa AG, which was officially entered into the Commercial Register on February 9, 2001, was the world’s largest producer of specialty chemicals and decided to concentrate its business activities in this area. As part of this consolidation effort, Degussa divested many activities that no longer were part of its core business between 2001 and 2004, including units with a long tradition in precious metals refining and metallurgy as well as those engaged in manufacturing pharmaceuticals, dental products, textile additives, and phenol chemicals.

In February 2003, Essen-based RAG AG acquired 46.48 percent of Degussa shares; by mid-2004, this share would increase to 50.1 percent. The corporation fully acquired all Degussa shares in September 2006. One year later, on September 12, 2007, Degussa became the Chemicals Business Area of the new, creative industry group known as Evonik Industries AG. A new era had begun.

The next pages offer insights in the varied and eventful history of the Chemicals Business Area. They contain many interesting details about the individual predecessor companies and introduce notable personalities, products, and details about the development of numerous production sites.