Hoechst Launches Stock Option Scheme

Hoechst, Europes biggest drugs and chemicals group, yesterday launched a stock option scheme - a rare move for a German company - for its top managers to mark its listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The group said yesterday it had won approval for the listing from the US Securities Exchange Commission, opening the way for it to become only the sixth German company to list its shares in New York. Trading on the NYSE will begin on September 24. The company - which has been at the forefront of a wave of corporate restructuring in Germany - also announced new, ambitious financial targets, including a 20 per cent return on equity within five years, in a bid to woo international investors.Klaus-Jürgen Schmieder, chief financial officer, said the moves were meant to underline Hoechsts commitment to shareholder value. We will broaden our shareholder base and increase the share price, he said. Hoechst said it would be the first German company and the first large multinational to list in New York without adopting full US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. It would continue to do its accounts according to International Accounting Standards, reconciling only its net income and stockholders equity to US GAAP.