Expansion of global presence

1980

The former Degussa, which was authorized to pursue banking business from its founding in 1873, hived off its banking activities and transferred them to the newly founded Degussa Bank GmbH in Frankfurt am Main. The mission of this Degussa subsidiary was to promote and further develop the banking business with a focus on deposit, credit, foreign and securities transactions. Degussa Bank GmbH was sold off in 2002.

With the founding of the Goldschmidt Chemical Corp. in Hopewell, Virginia, and the start of construction of a production plant, Th. Goldschmidt AG returned to the USA as a manufacturing company after almost 65 years. In 1981 the production of betaine started at the Hopewell site and the plant was later expanded. One of the innovations made in the May 1991 was the production of PU additives.

1982

Degussa built up its international position in the advanced fillers sector and together with the PQ Corporation in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, founded the North America Silica Company in Valley Forge for the production and marketing of precipitated silicic acids.

1984

Following the completion of a number of construction phases, a new Degussa administrative building was erected at Frankfurt am Main on the site of the former separating works.

1985

Following the completion of a number of construction phases, Degussa moved into its traditional site in the city center of Frankfurt, which had been erected on the site of the factory. Some 1,850 Degussa employees worked in this administrative building. The city site was closed in 2010 and employees moved to a newly built administrative center of Industriepark Wolfgang GmbH in Hanau.

1986

Degussa sponsored a visiting professorship in Chemistry and Medicine at Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. This professorship was endowed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Degussa research center in Hanau-Wolfgang. The endowed Degussa professorship continues to this day in organic synthetics.

1988

Hüls AG acquired the chemicals and polymers division of Dynamit Nobel AG, Troisdorf. This brought a number of plants into the ownership of the Marl Group. These were the Witten factory, founded in 1905 as Märkische Seifenindustrie GmbH, a manufacturer of fat-chemical products, polyester resins and bonding agents for the varnish industry, and the Steyerberg works, established in 1977, with its DMT production plant. DMT (Dimethyl phtalate) is also produced in a plant at the likewise recently acquired Lülsdorf factory, which was founded in 1912. The new acquisitions also included the Rheinfelden works, established in 1898 as Elektrochemische Werke GmbH (now the southern part of the works), which was immediately adjacent to the Rheinfelden works of the former Degussa AG (now the northern part of the works) and which was combined with it in 1999 as part of the merger.

1989

Through the purchase of stock, Röhm GmbH in Darmstadt became a wholly owned subsidiary of Hüls AG. After Degussa AG and Hüls AG merged to become Degussa-Hüls AG in 1999, Degussa subsidiary Agomer GmbH was amalgamated with Röhm GmbH. The activities of these two companies are now combined for further advancement in the Performance Polymers Business Unit of Evonik Industries AG.

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