The employees at Industriepark Höchst were very surprised when the news came out at the end of last week that the infrastructure service provider Infraserv was to be sold.
Because until then little had leaked in the chemical park that the Höchst company could be sold.
The mind games in the management floors of the three owners Sanofi, Clariant and Celanese cause excitement among the workforce of the traditional industrial location. There is not only confusion among employees about the owners' motives for wanting to sell the profitable and well-run company; there are also understandable discussions about what a new owner could plan.
For the location and the region, the speculation about the industrial park sends a bad signal.
After the split up of Hoechst AG, which once enjoyed the reputation of the “pharmacy of the world”, there was already concern that the huge area in the west of the city would not find adequate business models and that thousands of jobs could be lost.
The fact that the opposite happened and, with 22,000 employees in the industrial park, more people are now on wages than in the days of Hoechst, also has something to do with Infraserv's work.
Industry mix as a model for success
Soon after the end of Hoechst AG, the industrial park began to set up new companies and opened up to other sectors, especially biotechnology, logistics and IT.
Today, the broad mix of companies and industries, which is nonetheless focused on chemicals / pharmaceuticals / biotechnology, is a model for success.
The future of Infraserv is not only important for the region in terms of employees.
The industrial park is not an anonymous service provider whose ownership structure is secondary, but rather an important economic and social actor in the region due to its geographical location and size, not least as a neighbor in the middle of the densely populated Rhine-Main area.
The question of who will be in charge there in the future is therefore of considerable relevance for Frankfurt.
Hopefully the owners are also aware of this responsibility for the location, act appropriately and soon clarify what they are planning to do in Höchst.