Celanese Corp (CE)

Results of Operations

Financial Highlights

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(1)Defined as Operating profit (loss) divided by Net sales.

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Factors Affecting Business Segment Net Sales

The percentage increase (decrease) in Net sales attributable to each of the factors indicated for each of our business segments is as follows:

Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2023

Consolidated Results

Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2023

Net sales decreased $660 million, or 6%, for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to:

•lower pricing, driven by our Acetyl Chain segment due to an environment with greater supply than demand, as well as our Engineered Materials segment due to competitive market dynamics, product mix, and decreased energy surcharges;

•lower volume in our Engineered Materials segment primarily due to the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information) and reduced demand for elastomers due to weaker automotive demand, partially offset by higher volume, principally for POM in Europe and Asia; and

•an unfavorable currency impact, primarily resulting from a weaker Chinese Yuan ("CNY") and Japanese Yen ("JPY") relative to the U.S. dollar;

partially offset by:

•higher volume in our Acetyl Chain segment for most of our products, primarily methanol, downstream derivative products, acid, and VAM.

Operating profit decreased $2.4 billion, or 141%, for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to:

•an unfavorable impact of $1.7 billion to Other (charges) gains, net primarily in our Engineered Materials segment related to an impairment loss on goodwill of $1.5 billion and impairment losses on certain trade names, primarily Zytel® (see Note 9 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Net and Note 24 - Other (Charges) Gains, Net in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information);

•lower Net sales across our segments; and

•a gain of $515 million in our Engineered Materials segment recognized on the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture during the year ended December 31, 2023, which did not recur in the current year (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information);

partially offset by:

•lower raw material costs in our Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain segments.

Non-operating pension and other postretirement employee expense decreased $49 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to a decrease in recognized actuarial loss of $29 million as a result of an increase in the weighted average discount rate used to determine benefit obligations from 4.5% to 4.8%,

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partially offset by lower than expected actual asset returns. See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Our effective income tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2024 was (51)% compared to (67)% for the year ended 2023. The change in the effective income tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 was primarily due to:

•prior year impacts that did not recur in the current year, including the relocation of certain intangible assets to better align with the acquired M&M foreign operations, the realignment of our European headquarters and principal operations to Switzerland to achieve operational efficiencies, the release of valuation allowances on U.S. foreign tax credit carryforwards, and the excess of the U.S. GAAP gain over the tax gain from the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture; and

•current year impacts of a non-deductible goodwill impairment loss and recognition of a valuation allowance against certain local country, non-U.S. tax credit carryforwards due to reduced forecasts of earnings in future periods and capital gains tax arising from an internal integration-related restructuring of our acquired China operations to optimize our debt profile.

See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Discussion of our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, can be found in Part II - Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our Annual Reports for the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively.

Business Segments

Engineered Materials

Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2023

Net sales decreased for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to:

•lower volume, primarily driven by the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information) and reduced demand for elastomers due to weaker automotive demand, partially offset by higher volume for certain products, principally for POM in Europe and Asia;

•lower pricing for most of our products, primarily due to competitive market dynamics, product mix, and decreased energy surcharges; and

•an unfavorable currency impact, primarily resulting from a weaker JPY and CNY relative to the U.S. dollar.

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Operating profit decreased for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to:

•an unfavorable impact of $1.7 billion to Other (charges) gains, net primarily related to an impairment loss on goodwill of $1.5 billion and impairment losses on certain trade names, primarily Zytel® (see Note 9 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Net and Note 24 - Other (Charges) Gains, Net in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information);

•a gain of $515 million recognized on the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture during the year ended December 31, 2023, which did not recur in the current year (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information); and

•lower Net sales;

partially offset by:

•lower raw materials costs for most of our products.

Equity in net earnings (loss) of affiliates increased for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to:

•an increase in earnings from our Mylar Specialty Films strategic affiliates of $61 million, primarily due to increased restructuring costs incurred in the year ended December 31, 2023, which did not recur in the current year.

Acetyl Chain

Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2023

Net sales decreased for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to:

•lower pricing for most of our products globally, due to an environment with greater supply than demand during the year ended December 31, 2024;

partially offset by:

•higher volume for most of our products, primarily methanol, downstream derivative products, acid, and VAM.

Operating profit decreased for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to:

•lower Net sales; and

•higher spending of $40 million, primarily as a result of increased plant operating and maintenance expenses, including costs at our new acetic acid unit at Clear Lake, Texas, and plant turnaround costs related to our joint venture, Fairway Methanol LLC;

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partially offset by:

•lower raw material and sourcing costs, primarily for carbon monoxide and methanol.

Other Activities

Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2023

Operating loss decreased for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to:

•lower functional spending and incentive compensation cost of $33 million.

Non-operating pension and other postretirement employee expense decreased for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to:

•a decrease in the actuarial loss of $29 million as a result of an increase in the weighted average discount rate used to determine benefit obligations from 4.5% to 4.8%, partially offset by lower than expected actual asset returns. See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our primary sources of liquidity are cash generated from operations, available cash and cash equivalents, dividends from our portfolio of strategic investments and available borrowings under our senior unsecured revolving credit facilities. As of December 31, 2024, we have $1.75 billion available for borrowing under our senior U.S. unsecured revolving credit facility, $171 million available for borrowing under our separate China Revolving Credit Facilities (defined below) and up to $1.0 billion under the November 2024 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement (defined below), if required, in meeting our working capital needs and other contractual obligations. In addition, we held cash and cash equivalents of $962 million as of December 31, 2024. We are actively managing our business to maintain cash flow, and we believe that liquidity from the above-referenced sources will be sufficient to meet our operational and capital investment needs and financial obligations for the foreseeable future.

On February 29, 2024, we announced the intended closure of our facility in Mechelen, Belgium to optimize production costs across our global network. This operation is included in the Engineered Materials segment. We fully ceased operations during the three months ended December 31, 2024. We expect to incur additional exit and shutdown costs related to the closure of the facility of approximately $20 million, inclusive of estimated employee termination costs, through 2028. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

In October 2023, we announced the intended closure of our PA66 and High-Performance Nylon ("HPN") polymerization units at our facility in Uentrop, Germany to optimize production costs across our global network. These operations are included in the Engineered Materials segment. We fully ceased operation of the PA66 polymerization unit and partially ceased operation of the HPN polymerization units during the year ended December 31, 2024. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

In September 2023, we formed a food ingredients joint venture with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui") under the name Nutrinova. We contributed receivables, inventory, property, plant and equipment, certain other assets, liabilities, technology and employees of our food ingredients business while retaining a 30% interest in the joint venture. Mitsui acquired the remaining 70% interest in the food ingredients business for a purchase price of $503 million, subject to transaction adjustments. We accounted for our interest in the joint venture as an equity method investment, and our portion of the results will continue to be included in the Engineered Materials segment. For further information regarding the food ingredients joint venture, see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

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In November 2022, we acquired a majority of the M&M Business for a purchase price of $11.0 billion, subject to transaction adjustments, in an all-cash transaction. For further information regarding the acquisition and related financing transactions, see Debt and Other Obligations in this Liquidity and Capital Resources and Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Our incurrence of debt to finance the purchase price for the M&M Acquisition has increased our leverage and our ratio of indebtedness to consolidated EBITDA as set forth in our senior unsecured credit facilities. We believe that cash flows from our operations, together with synergy opportunities from the M&M Acquisition and cost reduction initiatives, will support our deleveraging efforts over the next few years. However, we expect the weakened demand environment, as discussed below, to continue to adversely impact our cash generation in the near-term. In furtherance of our deleveraging efforts, we have paused our share repurchase program and are in the process of evaluating additional cash generation or conservation opportunities. As part of this process, on November 4, 2024, we announced our intent to reduce our quarterly dividend by approximately 95 percent beginning in the first quarter of 2025. We will continue to evaluate our dividend policy, taking into account our ability to return to a balanced capital allocation strategy. Our deleveraging efforts may also include, in addition to the food ingredients joint venture described above, other opportunistic dispositions or monetization of other product or business lines or other assets.

While our contractual obligations, commitments and debt service requirements over the next several years are significant, we continue to believe we will have available resources to meet our liquidity requirements, including debt service, for the next twelve months. If our cash flow from operations is insufficient to fund our debt service and other obligations, we may be required to use other means available to us such as increasing our borrowings, reducing or delaying capital expenditures, seeking additional capital, further reducing or pausing dividend payments, or seeking to restructure or refinance our indebtedness. There can be no assurance, however, that we will continue to generate cash flows at or above current levels.

Total capital expenditures were $435 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. We continue to focus our near-term capital expenditures on required maintenance projects and productivity improvements, as we continue to prioritize deleveraging and expect total capital expenditures to be approximately $300 million to $350 million in 2025. In Engineered Materials, at our Nanjing, China facility, our expansions of (1) the compounding plant is in construction and we are accelerating completion to meet demand and (2) the new liquid crystal polymer ("LCP") plant is in construction and remains on schedule under a delayed timeline. At our Bishop, Texas facility, our debottleneck of the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene ("UHMW-PE") unit is on schedule and in detailed engineering design while construction is delayed in line with expected demand growth. Our energy optimization productivity and greenhouse gas reduction project at our polyoxymethylene ("POM") unit in Frankfurt, Germany is on schedule and in detailed engineering design. In the Acetyl Chain, our planned expansion of our vinyl acetate ethylene ("VAE") emulsion plant in Frankfurt, Germany is in construction and on schedule for start-up in the second half of 2025. We continue to see the investments made in recent years strengthen the growth and reliability, while lowering the carbon footprint, of our manufacturing network to best serve our customers.

We did not repurchase any Common Stock during the year ended December 31, 2024.

On a stand-alone basis, Celanese and its immediate 100% owned subsidiary, Celanese U.S., have no independent external operations of their own. Accordingly, they generally depend on the cash flow of their subsidiaries and their ability to pay dividends and make other distributions to Celanese and Celanese U.S. in order to meet their obligations, including their obligations under senior credit facilities and senior notes, and to pay dividends on our Common Stock.

We are subject to capital controls and exchange restrictions imposed by the local governments in certain jurisdictions where we operate, such as China, South Korea, India and Indonesia. Capital controls impose limitations on our ability to exchange currencies, repatriate earnings or capital, lend via intercompany loans or create cross-border cash pooling arrangements. Our largest exposure to a country with capital controls is in China. Pursuant to applicable regulations, foreign-invested enterprises in China may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with Chinese accounting standards and regulations. In addition, the Chinese government imposes certain currency exchange controls on cash transfers out of China, puts certain limitations on duration, purpose and amount of intercompany loans, and restricts cross-border cash pooling. While it is possible that future tightening of these restrictions or application of new similar restrictions could impact us, these limitations do not currently restrict our operations.

We remain in compliance with the covenants in the existing Global Credit Agreements (defined below, and as amended to date) and expect to remain in compliance based on our current expectation of future results of operations and planned cash generation activities. If the actual future results of our operations and cash generation activities differ materially from these expectations, we may be required to seek an amendment to or waiver of any impacted covenants, which may increase our borrowing costs under the existing Global Credit Agreements.

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Cash Flows

Cash and cash equivalents decreased $843 million to $962 million as of December 31, 2024 compared to December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2024, $627 million of the $962 million of cash and cash equivalents was held by our foreign subsidiaries. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we have incurred a prior year charge associated with the deemed repatriation of foreign earnings. These funds are largely accessible without additional material tax consequences, if needed in the U.S., to fund operations. See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2023

•Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities decreased $933 million to $966 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to $1.9 billion for the same period in 2023, primarily due to:

•unfavorable trade working capital of $654 million, primarily due to inventory reductions compared to those in the prior year driven by balancing production with demand and the timing of settlement of trade payables during the year ended December 31, 2024;

•a decrease in Net earnings, excluding the non-cash impacts of impairment losses, primarily due to the goodwill impairment loss of $1.5 billion in the Engineered Materials segment, (see Note 9 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Net in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information), deferred income taxes of $1.2 billion and the gain of $515 million recognized on the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture during the year ended December 31, 2023, which did not recur in the current year (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information); and

•an increase in cash taxes paid of $112 million.

•Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities increased $336 million to $470 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to $134 million for the same period in 2023, primarily due to:

•a cash inflow of $461 million recognized during the year ended December 31, 2023 related to the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information), which did not recur in the current year.

partially offset by:

•a decrease of $133 million in capital expenditures during the year ended December 31, 2024.

•Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Financing Activities

Net cash used in financing activities decreased $143 million to $1.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to $1.5 billion for the same period in 2023, primarily due to:

•a decrease in payments on long-term debt, primarily due to our cash tender offer of $2.25 billion completed in August 2023, payment in full of delayed-draw term loans of $870 million and repayment at maturity of the 1.125% senior unsecured notes during the year ended December 31, 2023, that did not recur in the current year, partially offset by repayments at maturity of the 5.900% and 3.500% senior unsecured notes during the year ended December 31, 2024; and

•a decrease in net payments on short-term debt, primarily driven by a payment of $500 million on our March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement (defined below) during the year ended December 31, 2023, which did not recur in the current year, partially offset by an increase in net payments on our revolving credit facilities of $74 million;

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partially offset by:

•a decrease in proceeds of long-term debt, primarily due to the issuance of certain senior unsecured notes of $3.0 billion during the year ended December 31, 2023, that did not recur in the current year, partially offset by current year borrowings on working capital loan facilities in China; and

•an increase in net payments on our China Working Capital Term Loan Agreement (defined below).

Debt and Other Obligations

•Senior Credit Facilities

In March 2022, we entered into a term loan credit agreement (as amended to date, the "March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement"), pursuant to which lenders provided a tranche of delayed-draw term loans due 5 years from issuance in an amount equal to $1.0 billion (the "5-year Term Loans").

Also in March 2022, we entered into a new revolving credit agreement (as amended to date, the "U.S. Revolving Credit Agreement" and, together with the March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement the "U.S. Credit Agreements") consisting of a $1.75 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility (with a letter of credit sublimit), maturing in 2027.

On February 21, 2023, August 9, 2023, February 16, 2024, November 1, 2024 and February 17, 2025, we amended certain covenants in certain of the U.S. Credit Agreements, including financial ratio maintenance covenants.

The U.S. Credit Agreements are guaranteed by Celanese, Celanese U.S. and domestic subsidiaries together representing substantially all of our U.S. assets and business operations (the "Subsidiary Guarantors").

In January 2023, Celanese (Shanghai) International Trading Co., Ltd ("CSIT"), a fully consolidated subsidiary, entered into a restatement of an existing credit facility agreement (the "CSIT Revolving Credit Agreement") to upsize and modify the facility thereunder to consist of an aggregate CNY1.75 billion uncommitted senior unsecured revolving credit facility available under two tranches (with overdraft, bank guarantee and documentary credit sublimits) (the "CSIT January 2023 Facility"). Obligations bear interest at certain fixed and floating rates. On April 7, 2024, the CSIT January 2023 Facility was reduced to CNY750 million and on December 19, 2024, the CSIT January 2023 Facility was reduced to CNY550 million. The CSIT Revolving Credit Agreement is guaranteed by Celanese U.S.

Also in January 2023, CSIT entered into a senior unsecured working capital loan contract for CNY800 million (the "China Working Capital Term Loan Agreement"), payable 12 months from withdrawal date and bearing interest at 0.5% less than certain interbank rates. The loan under the China Working Capital Term Loan Agreement was fully drawn in January 2023 and was fully repaid during the three months ended March 31, 2024.

In December 2023, Celanese (Nanjing) Chemical Co., Ltd. ("CNC") entered into a senior unsecured working capital loan agreement for CNY800 million, payable on December 25, 2026 and bearing interest at 2.8% (the "CNC Working Capital Loan Agreement"). The loan under the CNC Working Capital Loan Agreement was fully drawn during the three months ended March 31, 2024.

On June 28, 2024, CNC entered into a senior unsecured working capital loan agreement for CNY800 million, payable in installments until June 28, 2027 and bearing interest at 2.75% (the "CNC Three Year Working Capital Loan Agreement"). The CNC Three Year Working Capital Loan Agreement was partially drawn during the year ended December 31, 2024.

On November 1, 2024, we entered into a senior unsecured term loan credit agreement (the "November 2024 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement"), pursuant to which the lenders provided a delayed-draw term loan due 364 days from the date of borrowing in an amount up to $1.0 billion. Amounts outstanding under the November 2024 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement will accrue interest at a rate equal to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate with an interest period of one or three months ("Term SOFR") plus a margin of 1.300% to 2.250% per annum, or the base rate plus a margin of 0.300% to 1.250%, in each case, based on the Company's senior unsecured debt rating, subject to further changes based on such ratings. The commitments under the November 2024 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement will terminate by March 15, 2025. The loan under the November 2024 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement was not drawn during the year ended December 31, 2024.

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On December 10, 2024, CNC entered into a credit facility agreement (the "CNC Revolving Credit Agreement," together with the CNC Three Year Working Capital Loan Agreement, the CSIT Revolving Credit Agreement, the China Working Capital Term Loan Agreement and the CNC Working Capital Loan Agreement, the "China Credit Agreements," and the China Credit Agreements together with the U.S. Credit Agreements, the "Global Credit Agreements")) for a CNY1.0 billion uncommitted senior unsecured revolving credit facility (the "CNC December 2024 Facility", and together with the CSIT January 2023 Facility and any other revolving credit facilities available to the Company's subsidiaries in China, the "China Revolving Credit Facilities"). Obligations bear interest at certain floating rates. We expect the China Credit Agreements will facilitate our efficient repatriation of cash to the U.S. to repay debt and effectively redomicile a portion of our U.S. debt to China at a lower average interest rate.

On February 6, 2025, we drew $300 million from our U.S. Revolving Credit Facility. This borrowing and cash on hand were used primarily to repay in full our senior unsecured notes due 2025, with an interest rate of 1.250%, due on February 11, 2025, and for general corporate purposes.

•Senior Notes

We have outstanding senior unsecured notes, issued in public offerings registered under the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), as amended, as follows (collectively, the "Senior Notes"):

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(1)The 1.250% Notes were repaid in full on February 11, 2025.

(2)On November 14, 2024, S&P Global Ratings downgraded our credit rating to BB+, which had the effect of increasing the interest rates by 25 basis points on the senior unsecured notes due 2028, senior unsecured notes due 2030 and senior unsecured notes due 2033 to 6.600%, 6.800% and 6.950%, respectively, effective November 15, 2024.

The Senior Notes were issued by Celanese U.S. and are guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by Celanese and the Subsidiary Guarantors. Celanese U.S. may redeem some or all of each of the Senior Notes, prior to their respective maturity dates, at a redemption price of 100% of the principal amount, plus a "make-whole" premium as specified in the applicable indenture, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the redemption date.

In August 2023, Celanese U.S. completed a public offering of senior unsecured notes registered under the Securities Act as follows (collectively, the "2023 Offering"):

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Also in August 2023, Celanese U.S. completed a cash tender offer for $2.25 billion in aggregate principal amount (the "Tender Offer") as follows:

The net proceeds from the 2023 Offering were used (i) to fund the Tender Offer and (ii) for the repayment of other outstanding indebtedness.

•Accounts Receivable Purchasing Facility

In June 2023, we entered into an amendment to the amended and restated receivables purchase agreement under our U.S. accounts receivable purchasing facility among certain of our subsidiaries, our wholly-owned, "bankruptcy remote" special purpose subsidiary ("SPE") and certain global financial institutions ("Purchasers"). We de-recognized $1.5 billion and $1.4 billion of accounts receivable under this agreement for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and collected $1.5 billion and $1.3 billion of accounts receivable sold under this agreement during the same periods. Unsold U.S. accounts receivable of $139 million were pledged by the SPE as collateral to the Purchasers as of December 31, 2024.

•Factoring and Discounting Agreements

We have factoring agreements in Europe, Japan, Singapore and China with financial institutions. We de-recognized $700 million and $423 million of accounts receivable under these factoring agreements for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and collected $640 million and $407 million of accounts receivable sold under these factoring agreements during the same periods.

We have master discounting agreements (the "Master Discounting Agreements") with financial institutions in China to discount, on a non-recourse basis, banker's acceptance drafts ("BADs"), classified as accounts receivable. We received $100 million and $45 million from the accounts receivable transferred under the Master Discounting Agreements as of December 31, 2024 and 2023.

Covenants

Our material financing arrangements contain customary covenants, including the maintenance of certain financial ratios, events of default and change of control provisions. Failure to comply with these covenants, or the occurrence of any other event of default, could result in acceleration of the borrowings and other financial obligations. We are in compliance with all of the covenants related to our debt agreements as of December 31, 2024. On February 17, 2025, November 1, 2024, February 16, 2024, August 9, 2023 and February 21, 2023, we amended certain covenants in the U.S. Credit Agreements, including financial ratio maintenance covenants.

See Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Guarantor Financial Information

We have outstanding senior unsecured notes, issued in public offerings registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (collectively, the "Senior Notes"). The Senior Notes were issued by Celanese U.S. ("Issuer") and are guaranteed by Celanese Corporation ("Parent Guarantor") and the Subsidiary Guarantors (collectively the "Obligor Group"). See Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information. The Issuer and Subsidiary Guarantors are 100% owned subsidiaries of the Parent Guarantor. The Subsidiary Guarantors are listed in Exhibit 22.1 to this Annual Report.

The Parent Guarantor and the Subsidiary Guarantors have guaranteed the Senior Notes on a full and unconditional, joint and several, senior unsecured basis. The guarantees are subject to certain customary release provisions, including that a Subsidiary Guarantor will be released from its respective guarantee in specified circumstances, including (i) the sale or transfer of all of its assets or capital stock; (ii) its merger or consolidation with, or transfer of all or substantially all of its assets to, another person; or (iii) its ceasing to be a majority-owned subsidiary of the Issuer in connection with any sale of its capital stock or other transaction. Additionally, a Subsidiary Guarantor will be released from its guarantee of the Senior Notes at such time that it

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ceases to guarantee the Issuer's obligations under the existing U.S. Credit Agreements (subject to the satisfaction of customary document delivery requirements). The obligations of the Subsidiary Guarantors under their guarantees are limited as necessary to prevent such guarantees from constituting a fraudulent conveyance or fraudulent transfer under applicable law.

The Parent Guarantor and the Issuer are holding companies that conduct substantially all of their operations through their subsidiaries, which own substantially all of our consolidated assets. The Parent Guarantor holds the stock of its immediate 100% owned subsidiary, the Issuer, but has no material consolidated assets. The principal source of cash to pay the Parent Guarantor's and the Issuer's obligations, including obligations under the Senior Notes and the guarantee of the Issuer's obligations under the existing U.S. Credit Agreements, is the cash that our subsidiaries generate from their operations. Each of the Subsidiary Guarantors and our non-guarantor subsidiaries is a distinct legal entity and, under certain circumstances, applicable country or state laws, regulatory limitations and terms of other debt instruments may limit our subsidiaries' ability to distribute cash to the Issuer and the Parent Guarantor.

For cash management purposes, we transfer cash among the Parent Guarantor, Issuer, Subsidiary Guarantors and non-guarantors through intercompany financing arrangements, contributions or declaration of dividends between the respective parent and its subsidiaries. While the non-guarantor subsidiaries do not guarantee the Issuer's obligations under our outstanding debt, the transfer of cash under these activities facilitates the ability of the recipient to make specified third-party payments for principal and interest on the Senior Notes, the existing U.S. Credit Agreements, other outstanding debt, Common Stock dividends and Common Stock repurchases.

The summarized financial information of the Obligor Group is presented below on a combined basis after the elimination of: (i) intercompany transactions among such entities and (ii) equity in earnings from and investments in the non-guarantor subsidiaries. Transactions with, and amounts due to or from, non-guarantor subsidiaries and affiliates are separately disclosed.

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Share Capital

On February 12, 2025, we declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.03 per share on our Common Stock amounting to approximately $3 million. The cash dividend will be paid on March 11, 2025 to holders of record as of February 25, 2025. As disclosed above, as part of our deleveraging efforts, we announced our intent to reduce our quarterly dividend by approximately 95 percent beginning in the first quarter of 2025. We will continue to evaluate our dividend policy, taking into account our ability to return to a balanced capital allocation policy.

Our Board of Directors has authorized the aggregate repurchase of $6.9 billion of our Common Stock since February 2008. These authorizations give management discretion in determining the timing and conditions under which shares may be repurchased. This repurchase program does not have an expiration date. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we did not repurchase any shares of our Common Stock. As of December 31, 2024, we had $1.1 billion remaining under authorizations by our Board of Directors. As discussed above, as part of our deleveraging efforts, we have paused our share repurchase program.

See Note 14 - Shareholders' Equity in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Contractual Obligations, Guarantees and Commitments

We calculated $2.5 billion of all future interest payments on debt and other obligations using the rate in effect on December 31, 2024 and $493 million of all future pension and other postretirement funding obligations. We have directly guaranteed various debt obligations under agreements with third parties related to certain equity affiliates. As of December 31, 2024, we have directly guaranteed $145 million and €31 million of such obligations.

We have not entered into any material off-balance sheet arrangements.

In the accompanying consolidated financial statements, see Note 10 - Current Other Liabilities for current asset retirement obligations, Note 11 - Debt for a description of the guarantees under our Senior Notes and Credit Agreement, Note 12 - Benefit Obligations for a description of the pension and other postretirement funding obligations, Note 13 - Environmental for a description of environmental obligations, Note 15 - Income Taxes for a description of uncertain tax positions, Note 16 - Leases for lease obligations and Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies for a discussion of commitments and contingencies related to legal and regulatory proceedings.

Market Risks

See Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure about Market Risk for further information.

Business Environment

During the three months ended December 31, 2024, we experienced a sustained decrease in our share price, following downward revisions in forecast earnings and our announcement to reduce our quarterly dividend by approximately 95% beginning in the first quarter of 2025 to redeploy cash toward debt reduction, and a challenging demand environment. We faced extended weakness in the macroeconomic environment, with downturns in the Western Hemisphere automotive and industrial end-markets, impacting our Engineering Materials segment, as well as persistent demand weakness in paints, coatings, and construction, impacting our Acetyl Chain segment, which deepened general demand softness. We are committed to taking actions that are expected to improve our earnings, accelerate deleveraging, and increase shareholder returns in this challenging, and any, environment. We also intend to continue to closely monitor the impact of, and responses to, geopolitical effects on demand conditions and the supply chain.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are based on the selection and application of significant accounting policies. The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of net sales, expenses and allocated charges during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

We believe the following accounting policies and estimates are critical to understanding the financial reporting risks present in the current economic environment. These matters, and the judgments and uncertainties affecting them, are also essential to understanding our reported and future operating results. See Note 2 - Summary of Accounting Policies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

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•Recoverability of Long-Lived Assets

Recoverability of Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets

We assess the recoverability of the carrying amount of our goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets annually during the third quarter of our fiscal year using June 30 balances or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset may not be fully recoverable.

When assessing the recoverability of goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets, we may first assess qualitative factors in determining whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit or another indefinite-lived intangible asset is less than its carrying amount. The qualitative evaluation is an assessment of multiple factors, including the current operating environment, financial performance and market considerations. We may elect to bypass the qualitative assessment for some or all of our reporting units or other indefinite-lived intangible assets and proceed directly to a quantitative analysis depending on the facts and circumstances.

In performing a quantitative analysis of goodwill, recoverability of goodwill for each reporting unit is measured using the income approach based on a discounted cash flow model incorporating discount rates commensurate with the risks involved or a combination of the income approach and the market approach using the guideline public company method. The key assumptions used in the discounted cash flow valuation model include discount rates, revenue growth rates, tax rates, cash flow projections and terminal value rates. Discount rates, revenue growth rates and cash flow projections are the most sensitive and susceptible to change as they require significant management judgment. Discount rates used are similar to the rates estimated by the weighted average cost of capital ("WACC") considering any differences in company-specific risk factors. Revenue growth rates and cash flow projections are based on historical trends and expected growth drivers such as macroeconomic trends in the industries and territories in which the reporting units operate.

Management tests other indefinite-lived intangible assets quantitatively utilizing the relief from royalty method under the income approach to determine the estimated fair value for each indefinite-lived intangible asset. Key assumptions used in this model include discount rates, royalty rates, revenue growth rates, tax rates, sales projections and terminal value rates. Discount rates, royalty rates, revenue growth rates, tax rates and sales projections are the assumptions most sensitive and susceptible to change as they require significant management judgment. Discount rates used are similar to the rates estimated by the WACC considering any differences in company-specific risk factors. Royalty rates are established by management using the most recent third party valuations and are periodically substantiated by third-party valuation consultants. Revenue growth rates and sales projections are based on historical trends and expected growth drivers such as macroeconomic trends in the industries and territories in which the indefinite-lived intangible assets operate. Tax rates consider the operating structure of the Company and tax rates in jurisdictions in which the indefinite-lived intangible assets operate.

Specific assumptions discussed above are updated at the date of each test to consider current industry and company-specific risk factors from the perspective of a market participant. The current business environment is subject to evolving market conditions and requires significant management judgment to interpret the potential impact to our assumptions. To the extent that changes in the current business environment result in adjusted management projections, impairment losses may occur in future periods.

During the three months ended September 30, 2024, the Company completed its annual goodwill impairment test. The results of the test indicated the estimated fair value for each of the Company's reporting units exceeded the carrying amount of the underlying assets. Although no impairment of the engineered materials reporting unit was identified during the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the estimated fair value exceeded its carrying value by less than 10% as of September 30, 2024.

During the three months ended December 31, 2024, the Company experienced a significant and sustained decrease in the Company's share price. Further, due to extended weakness in the macroeconomic environment, specifically the auto and industrial end-markets, which deepened general demand softness during the three months ended December 31, 2024, thereby impacting pricing and volume, the Company updated its engineered materials reporting unit forecast model for the 2025 fiscal year which showed additional deterioration in the projected financial results for the 2025 fiscal year compared to the analyses prepared during the three months ended September 30, 2024. While the long-term projections beyond 2025 include recovery, the lower projections in 2025 do have an impact on the forecast model beyond 2025 by applying forecasted growth rates to a lower anticipated 2025 base revenue. The updated 2025 projections continue to reflect industry wide challenges including demand softness across the majority of end uses resulting in lower pricing. Based on the sustained decrease in the share price and the downward revisions to projections, the Company determined that there were indicators that the engineered materials reporting unit's goodwill may be impaired. As a result, the Company performed an interim quantitative test of the engineered materials reporting unit during the three months ended December 31, 2024. The results of the test determined that the carrying amount of the engineered materials reporting unit exceeded its estimated fair value primarily due to the downward adjustments

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in the forecast model, as well as an increase in the discount rate. As such, the Company recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment loss of $1.5 billion in the Engineered Materials segment. As of December 31, 2024, the engineered materials reporting unit had goodwill of $5.0 billion.

In connection with the Company's annual indefinite-lived intangible assets impairment test during the three months ended September 30, 2024, the Company recorded a non-cash impairment loss of $34 million to impair the net book value of certain trade names, primarily Zytel®, included in the Engineered Materials segment.

Additionally, in conjunction with the goodwill impairment test in the three months ended December 31, 2024, the Company performed an interim impairment test of the indefinite-lived intangible assets assigned to the engineered materials reporting unit and determined certain trade names were impaired. As a result, the Company recorded a non-cash impairment loss of $83 million to impair the net book value of certain trade names, primarily Zytel®, included in the Engineered Materials segment.

See Note 9 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Net in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

•Benefit Obligations

Various assumptions are used in the calculation of the actuarial valuation of the employee benefit plans. These key assumptions include the discount rate and expected long-term rates of return on plan assets. The actuarial assumptions used may differ materially from actual results due to changing market and economic conditions. These differences may result in a significant impact to the amount of net periodic benefit cost recorded in future periods.

Pension assumptions are reviewed annually in the fourth quarter of each fiscal year and whenever a plan is required to be remeasured. Assumptions are reviewed on a plan and country-specific basis by third-party actuaries and senior management. Such assumptions are adjusted as appropriate to reflect changes in market rates and outlook.

See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

The estimated change in pension net periodic benefit cost and projected benefit obligations that would occur in 2025 from a change in the indicated assumptions are as follows:

______________________________

(1)Excludes nonqualified pension plans.

•Income Taxes

We regularly review our deferred tax assets for recoverability and establish a valuation allowance as needed. In forming our judgment regarding the recoverability of deferred tax assets related to deductible temporary differences and tax attribute carryforwards, we give weight to positive and negative evidence based on the extent to which the forms of evidence can be objectively verified.

The recoverability of deferred tax assets and the recognition and measurement of uncertain tax positions are subject to various assumptions and management judgment. If actual results differ from the estimates made by management in establishing or maintaining valuation allowances against deferred tax assets, the resulting change in the valuation allowance would generally impact earnings or Other comprehensive income depending on the nature of the respective deferred tax asset. In addition, the

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positions taken with regard to tax contingencies may be subject to audit and review by tax authorities, which may result in future taxes, interest and penalties.

See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 3 - Recent Accounting Pronouncements in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for information regarding recent accounting pronouncements.

Results of Operations

Financial Highlights

_____________________________

(1)Defined as Operating profit (loss) divided by Net sales.

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Factors Affecting Business Segment Net Sales

The percentage increase (decrease) in Net sales attributable to each of the factors indicated for each of our business segments is as follows:

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

Consolidated Results

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

Net sales increased $1.3 billion, or 13%, for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

•higher volume, primarily in our Engineered Materials segment related to the M&M Acquisition and the KEPCO restructuring (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information) and also in our Acetyl Chain segment due to increased demand for most of our products in Asia;

partially offset by:

•lower pricing, primarily in our Acetyl Chain segment as market and pricing conditions reverted from increased levels in the prior year and also in our Engineered Materials segment due to decreased energy surcharges, market considerations, and an unfavorable product mix; and

•lower volume in our Acetyl Chain segment due to decreased demand for vinyl acetate monomer ("VAM"), acid and emulsion polymers in the Western Hemisphere.

Operating profit increased $309 million, or 22%, for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

•higher Net sales in our Engineered Materials segment;

•a gain of $515 million in our Engineered Materials segment recognized on the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information); and

•lower raw material and sourcing costs in our Acetyl Chain segment, primarily for ethylene, methanol and acid;

partially offset by:

•higher raw material costs and spending in our Engineered Materials segment as a result of additional production capacity gained through the M&M Acquisition; and

•lower Net sales in our Acetyl Chain segment.

Non-operating pension and other postretirement employee expense increased $86 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to higher interest costs of $66 million and lower expected return on plan assets of $34 million, partially offset by a decrease in recognized actuarial loss of $15 million primarily as a result of a decrease in the weighted average discount rate used to determine benefit obligations from 4.9% to 4.5%. See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

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Our effective income tax benefit rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 was 67% compared to 34% for the year ended 2022. The higher effective income tax benefit rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 was primarily due to the relocation of certain intangible assets to better align with the acquired M&M foreign operations, the realignment of our European headquarters and principal operations to Switzerland to achieve operational efficiencies, the release of valuation allowances on U.S. foreign tax credit carryforwards, and the excess of the U.S. GAAP gain over the tax gain from the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture. See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Discussion of our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, can be found in Part II - Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our Annual Reports for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.

Business Segments

Engineered Materials

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

Net sales increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

•higher volume, primarily related to the M&M Acquisition and the KEPCO restructuring (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information);

partially offset by:

•lower pricing for most of our products, primarily due to decreased energy surcharges, market considerations, and an unfavorable product mix, particularly in Asia and Europe.

Operating profit increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

•higher Net sales; and

•a gain of $515 million recognized on the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information);

partially offset by:

•higher raw material costs as a result of additional production capacity gained through the M&M Acquisition; and

•higher spending of $558 million as a result of the M&M Acquisition, which includes selling and administrative, distribution and operating costs.

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Equity in net earnings (loss) of affiliates decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

•losses from our DuPont Teijin Films strategic affiliates due to restructuring; and

•a decrease in equity investment in earnings of $35 million from our Ibn Sina strategic affiliate, primarily as a result of reduced oil prices.

Depreciation and amortization, which is included in Operating profit, increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily as a result of the M&M Acquisition.

Acetyl Chain

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

Net sales decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

•lower pricing for most of our products, primarily VAM, acid and emulsion polymers, as market and pricing conditions reverted from increased levels in the prior year particularly in Asia and Europe; and

•lower volume due to decreased demand for VAM, acid and emulsion polymers in the Western Hemisphere;

partially offset by:

•higher pricing for acetate tow; and

•higher volume due to increased demand for most of our products, primarily in Asia.

Operating profit decreased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

•lower Net sales;

partially offset by:

•lower raw material and sourcing costs, primarily for ethylene, methanol and acid.

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Other Activities

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

Operating loss increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

•higher functional spending of $106 million, primarily related to additional sites and employees gained through the M&M Acquisition;

partially offset by:

•lower merger and acquisition project spending of $66 million; and

•a favorable currency impact of $33 million.

Non-operating pension and other postretirement employee expense increased for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 primarily due to:

•higher interest costs of $66 million and lower expected return on plan assets of $34 million, partially offset by a decrease in recognized actuarial loss of $15 million primarily as a result of a decrease in the weighted average discount rate used to determine benefit obligations from 4.9% to 4.5%. See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our primary sources of liquidity are cash generated from operations, available cash and cash equivalents, dividends from our portfolio of strategic investments and available borrowings under our senior unsecured revolving credit facility. As of December 31, 2023, we have $1.75 billion available for borrowing under our senior U.S. unsecured revolving credit facility and $34 million available for borrowing under our separate China Revolving Credit Facility (defined below), if required, in meeting our working capital needs and other contractual obligations. In addition, we held cash and cash equivalents of $1.8 billion as of December 31, 2023. We are actively managing our business to maintain cash flow, and we believe that liquidity from the above-referenced sources will be sufficient to meet our operational and capital investment needs and financial obligations for the foreseeable future.

On October 31, 2023, we announced the planned closure of our Polyamide 66 ("PA66") and High-Performance Nylon ("HPN") polymerization units at our facility in Uentrop, Germany to optimize production costs across our global network. These operations are included in the Engineered Materials segment and we expect to complete the closure in 2024. We expect to incur additional exit and shutdown costs related to the closure of the PA66 and HPN polymerization units in Uentrop, Germany of approximately $70 million in 2024, inclusive of estimated employee termination costs.

On September 27, 2023, we formed a food ingredients joint venture with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui") under the name Nutrinova. We contributed receivables, inventory, property, plant and equipment, certain other assets, liabilities, technology and employees of our food ingredients business while retaining a 30% interest in the joint venture. Mitsui acquired the remaining 70% interest in the food ingredients business for a purchase price of $503 million, subject to transaction adjustments. We accounted for our interest in the joint venture as an equity method investment, and our portion of the results will continue to be included in the Engineered Materials segment. For further information regarding the food ingredients joint venture, see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

On November 1, 2022, we acquired a majority of the M&M Business for a purchase price of $11.0 billion, subject to transaction adjustments, in an all-cash transaction. For further information regarding the acquisition and related financing

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transactions, see Debt and Other Obligations in this Liquidity and Capital Resources and Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Our incurrence of debt to finance the purchase price for the M&M Acquisition has increased our leverage and our ratio of indebtedness to consolidated EBITDA as set forth in our senior unsecured credit facilities. We believe that cash flows from our operations, together with synergy opportunities from the M&M Acquisition and cost reduction initiatives, will support our deleveraging efforts over the next few years. In furtherance of these deleveraging efforts, we have paused our share repurchase program and are in the process of evaluating additional cash generation opportunities which may also include, in addition to the food ingredients joint venture described above, additional opportunistic dispositions or monetization of other product or business lines or other assets. We are committed to rapid deleveraging and to maintaining our investment grade debt rating.

While our contractual obligations, commitments and debt service requirements over the next several years are significant, we continue to believe we will have available resources to meet our liquidity requirements, including debt service, for the next twelve months. If our cash flow from operations is insufficient to fund our debt service and other obligations, we may be required to use other means available to us such as increasing our borrowings, reducing or delaying capital expenditures, seeking additional capital or seeking to restructure or refinance our indebtedness. There can be no assurance, however, that we will continue to generate cash flows at or above current levels.

Total capital expenditures were $568 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. We continue to prioritize projects that drive growth and productivity in the near term and expect total capital expenditures to be approximately $400 million in 2024, primarily due to certain investments in growth opportunities and productivity improvements. In Engineered Materials, at our Nanjing, China facility, our expansions of (1) the compounding plant and (2) the new liquid crystal polymer ("LCP") plant are on schedule and in construction, and at our Bishop, Texas facility, our debottleneck of the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene ("UHMW-PE") unit is on schedule and in detailed engineering design/construction. Our energy optimization productivity project at our polyoxymethylene ("POM") unit in Frankfurt, Germany is in detailed engineering design. In the Acetyl Chain, our planned expansion of our acetic acid unit at Clear Lake, Texas is on track to be commissioned and started in the first quarter of 2024. The other major projects that support the Acetyl Chain are in various stages of construction or commissioning and on schedule. These projects include our planned expansions of (1) our vinyl acetate ethylene ("VAE") emulsions units in Nanjing, China, and (2) our VAE emulsion plant in Frankfurt, Germany. The sustainable production of methanol ("MeOH") through carbon capture utilization at our Fairway joint venture MeOH unit in Clear Lake, Texas, using captured carbon dioxide as feedstock, was successfully commissioned and started in December 2023. The announced expansion of our vinyl acetate monomer ("VAM") plant in Bay City, Texas is on temporary hold. We continue to see the incremental capacity from investments made in recent years strengthen the growth and reliability of our manufacturing network reliability to best serve our customers.

We did not repurchase any Common Stock during the year ended December 31, 2023.

On a stand-alone basis, Celanese and its immediate 100% owned subsidiary, Celanese U.S., have no independent external operations of their own. Accordingly, they generally depend on the cash flow of their subsidiaries and their ability to pay dividends and make other distributions to Celanese and Celanese U.S. in order to meet their obligations, including their obligations under senior credit facilities and senior notes, and to pay dividends on our Common Stock.

We are subject to capital controls and exchange restrictions imposed by the local governments in certain jurisdictions where we operate, such as China, South Korea, India and Indonesia. Capital controls impose limitations on our ability to exchange currencies, repatriate earnings or capital, lend via intercompany loans or create cross-border cash pooling arrangements. Our largest exposure to a country with capital controls is in China. Pursuant to applicable regulations, foreign-invested enterprises in China may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with Chinese accounting standards and regulations. In addition, the Chinese government imposes certain currency exchange controls on cash transfers out of China, puts certain limitations on duration, purpose and amount of intercompany loans, and restricts cross-border cash pooling. While it is possible that future tightening of these restrictions or application of new similar restrictions could impact us, these limitations do not currently restrict our operations.

We remain in compliance with the covenants in the existing Global Credit Agreements (defined below, and as amended to date) and expect to remain in compliance based on our current expectation of future results of operations and planned cash generation activities. If the actual future results of our operations and cash generation activities differ materially from these expectations, we may be required to seek an amendment to or waiver of any impacted covenants, which may increase our borrowing costs under the existing Global Credit Agreements.

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Cash Flows

Cash and cash equivalents increased $297 million to $1.8 billion as of December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2023, $1.5 billion of the $1.8 billion of cash and cash equivalents was held by our foreign subsidiaries. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we have incurred a prior year charge associated with the deemed repatriation of previously unremitted foreign earnings, including foreign held cash. These funds are largely accessible without additional material tax consequences, if needed in the U.S., to fund operations. See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Year Ended December 31, 2023 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2022

•Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities increased $80 million to $1.9 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $1.8 billion for the same period in 2022, primarily due to:

•favorable trade working capital of $642 million, primarily related to inventory reduction due to aligning inventory and production levels to demand and lower raw materials and inventory costs, and the timing of settlement of trade payables and collections of trade receivables during the year ended December 31, 2023; and

•cash receipts of non-trade receivables of $346 million, primarily related to the receivable balances arising from the M&M Acquisition and other transaction activities;

partially offset by:

•an increase in cash interest paid of $639 million related primarily to the debt incurred to finance the M&M Acquisition; and

•a decrease in earnings performance, net of the gain recognized on the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information).

•Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities decreased $11.0 billion to $134 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $11.1 billion for the same period in 2022, primarily due to:

•a cash outflow of $10.6 billion related to the M&M Acquisition in November 2022, which did not recur in the current year. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information; and

•a cash inflow of $461 million related to the formation of the Nutrinova joint venture (see Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information).

•Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Financing Activities

Net cash used in financing activities increased $11.7 billion to $1.5 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to net cash provided by financing activities of $10.3 billion for the same period in 2022, primarily due to:

•a decrease in net proceeds of long-term debt, primarily due to the Tender Offer (defined below) of $2.25 billion, payment in full of the 3-year Term Loans (defined below) of $750 million, repayment at maturity of the 1.125% senior unsecured notes during the year ended December 31, 2023, and issuance of the Acquisition Notes (defined below), borrowings under the 3-year and 5-year Term Loans (defined below) during the year ended December 31, 2022 (see Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information), which did not recur in the current year; and

•an increase in net payments on short-term debt, primarily as a result of payments on our revolving credit facilities and payment in full of the 364-day Term Loans (defined below);

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partially offset by:

•an increase in net proceeds of long-term debt, primarily due to the 2023 Offering (defined below) of $3.0 billion in principal amount during the year ended December 31, 2023 and repayment at maturity of the 4.625% senior unsecured notes during the year ended December 31, 2022; and

•a decrease in net payments on short-term debt, primarily due to borrowings on our revolving credit facilities and China Working Capital Term Loan Agreement (defined below) during the year ended December 31, 2023 and borrowing under the senior unsecured revolving credit facility related to the M&M Acquisition in November 2022.

In addition, exchange rates had an unfavorable impact of $12 million on cash and cash equivalents and a favorable impact of $4 million on cash and cash equivalents for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Debt and Other Obligations

•Senior Credit Facilities

In March 2022, we entered into a term loan credit agreement (the "March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement"), pursuant to which lenders provided a tranche of delayed-draw term loans due 364 days from issuance in an amount equal to $500 million (the "364-day Term Loans") and a tranche of delayed-draw term loans due 5 years from issuance in an amount equal to $1.0 billion (the "5-year Term Loans"). In September 2022, we entered into an additional term loan credit agreement (the "September 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement" and, together with the March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement, the "U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreements"), pursuant to which lenders have provided delayed-draw term loans due 3 years from issuance in an amount equal to $750 million (the "3-year Term Loans" and collectively with the 364-day Term Loans and the 5-year Term Loans, the "U.S. Term Loan Facility"). The U.S. Term Loan Facility was fully drawn during the three months ended December 31, 2022. The 364-day Term Loans and 3-year Term Loans have been fully repaid.

Also in March 2022, we entered into a new revolving credit agreement (the "U.S. Revolving Credit Agreement" and, together with the U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreements the "U.S. Credit Agreements") consisting of a $1.75 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility (with a letter of credit sublimit), maturing in 2027. The proceeds of a $365 million borrowing under the new senior unsecured revolving credit facility were used to repay and terminate our then-existing revolving credit facility.

On February 21, 2023 and February 16, 2024, we amended certain covenants in the U.S. Credit Agreements, including financial ratio maintenance covenants.

On August 9, 2023, we amended certain covenants in the March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement to permit refinancing certain senior notes without requiring a mandatory prepayment under the March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement.

The March 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement and the U.S. Revolving Credit Agreement are, and the September 2022 U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreement was, guaranteed by Celanese, Celanese U.S. and domestic subsidiaries together representing substantially all of the Company's U.S. assets and business operations (the "Subsidiary Guarantors").

On January 4, 2023, Celanese (Shanghai) International Trading Co., Ltd ("CSIT"), a fully consolidated subsidiary, entered into a restatement of an existing credit facility agreement (the "China Revolving Credit Agreement") to upsize and modify the facility thereunder to consist of an aggregate CNY1.75 billion uncommitted senior unsecured revolving credit facility available under two tranches (with overdraft, bank guarantee and documentary credit sublimits) (the "China Revolving Credit Facility"). Obligations bear interest at certain fixed and floating rates. The China Revolving Credit Agreement is guaranteed by Celanese U.S.

On January 6, 2023, CSIT entered into a senior unsecured working capital loan contract for CNY800 million (the "China Working Capital Term Loan Agreement," together with the China Revolving Credit Agreement, the "China Credit Agreements," and the China Credit Agreements together with the U.S. Credit Agreements, the "Global Credit Agreements"), payable 12 months from withdrawal date and bearing interest at 0.5% less than certain interbank rates. The loan under the China Working Capital Term Loan Agreement was fully drawn on January 10, 2023 and was supported by a letter of comfort from us. We expect the China Credit Agreements will facilitate our efficient repatriation of cash to the U.S. to repay debt and effectively redomicile a portion of our U.S. debt to China at a lower average interest rate.

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•Senior Notes

We have outstanding senior unsecured notes, issued in public offerings registered under the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), as amended, as follows (collectively, the "Senior Notes"):

The Senior Notes were issued by Celanese U.S. and are guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by Celanese and the Subsidiary Guarantors. Celanese U.S. may redeem some or all of each of the Senior Notes, prior to their respective maturity dates, at a redemption price of 100% of the principal amount, plus a "make-whole" premium as specified in the applicable indenture, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the redemption date.

In July 2022, Celanese U.S. completed an offering of $7.5 billion aggregate principal amount of notes of various maturities in a public offering registered under the Securities Act (the "Acquisition USD Notes"). Also in July 2022, Celanese U.S. completed an offering of €1.5 billion in aggregate principal amount of euro-denominated senior unsecured notes in a public offering registered under the Securities Act (collectively, the "Acquisition Euro Notes" and together with the Acquisition USD Notes, the "Acquisition Notes"). Fees and expenses of the offering of the Acquisition Notes, inclusive of underwriting discounts, were $65 million. Net proceeds from the sale of the Acquisition Notes were used to fund the purchase price for the M&M Acquisition, with any remaining proceeds being used for general corporate purposes.

The entry into the U.S. Term Loan Credit Agreements and the offerings of the Acquisition Notes reduced availability under the Bridge Facility to zero, and we terminated the Bridge Facility. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we paid $66 million in fees related to the Bridge Facility commitment, amortizing these fees to interest expense.

On August 24, 2023, Celanese U.S. completed an offering of $3.0 billion aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes of various maturities in a public offering registered under the Securities Act (the "2023 Offering"). Deferred financing costs related to the 2023 Offering, including underwriting discounts, were $26 million.

On August 25, 2023, Celanese U.S. completed a cash tender offer for $2.25 billion in aggregate principal amount (the "Tender Offer") as follows:

The net proceeds from the 2023 Offering were used (i) to fund the Tender Offer and (ii) for the repayment of other outstanding indebtedness, including the payment in full of the 364-day Term Loans and the 3-year Term Loans.

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•Accounts Receivable Securitization Facility

On June 1, 2023, we entered into an amendment to the amended and restated receivables purchase agreement under our U.S. accounts receivable purchasing facility among certain of our subsidiaries, our wholly-owned, "bankruptcy remote" special purpose subsidiary ("SPE") and certain global financial institutions ("Purchasers"). We de-recognized $1.4 billion and $1.1 billion of accounts receivable under this agreement for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and collected $1.3 billion and $1.1 billion of accounts receivable sold under this agreement during the same periods. Unsold U.S. accounts receivable of $109 million were pledged by the SPE as collateral to the Purchasers as of December 31, 2023.

•Factoring and Discounting Agreements

We have factoring agreements in Europe and Singapore with financial institutions. We de-recognized $423 million and $320 million of accounts receivable under these factoring agreements for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and collected $407 million and $325 million of accounts receivable sold under these factoring agreements during the same periods.

In March 2021, we entered into a letter of credit discounting agreement in Singapore with a financial institution. We de-recognized $8 million and $50 million of accounts receivable under this agreement for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

On December 15, 2023, we entered into a Master Discounting Agreement (the "Master Discounting Agreement") with a financial institution in China to discount, on a non-recourse basis, banker's acceptance drafts ("BADs"), classified as accounts receivable. We received $45 million from the accounts receivable transferred under the Master Discounting Agreement as of December 31, 2023. The impacts of discounting are not material to the Company's results of operations, cash flows or financial position.

Our material financing arrangements contain customary covenants, including the maintenance of certain financial ratios, events of default and change of control provisions. Failure to comply with these covenants, or the occurrence of any other event of default, could result in acceleration of the borrowings and other financial obligations. We are in compliance with all of the covenants related to our debt agreements as of December 31, 2023. On February 21, 2023 and February 16, 2024, we amended certain covenants, including the financial ratio covenant, included in the U.S. Credit Agreements.

See Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Guarantor Financial Information

We have outstanding senior unsecured notes, issued in public offerings registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (collectively, the "Senior Notes"). The Senior Notes were issued by Celanese U.S. ("Issuer") and are guaranteed by Celanese Corporation ("Parent Guarantor") and the Subsidiary Guarantors (collectively the "Obligor Group"). See Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information. The Issuer and Subsidiary Guarantors are 100% owned subsidiaries of the Parent Guarantor. The Subsidiary Guarantors are listed in Exhibit 22.1 to this Annual Report.

The Parent Guarantor and the Subsidiary Guarantors have guaranteed the Senior Notes on a full and unconditional, joint and several, senior unsecured basis. The guarantees are subject to certain customary release provisions, including that a Subsidiary Guarantor will be released from its respective guarantee in specified circumstances, including (i) the sale or transfer of all of its assets or capital stock; (ii) its merger or consolidation with, or transfer of all or substantially all of its assets to, another person; or (iii) its ceasing to be a majority-owned subsidiary of the Issuer in connection with any sale of its capital stock or other transaction. Additionally, a Subsidiary Guarantor will be released from its guarantee of the Senior Notes at such time that it ceases to guarantee the Issuer's obligations under the existing U.S. Credit Agreements (subject to the satisfaction of customary document delivery requirements). The obligations of the Subsidiary Guarantors under their guarantees are limited as necessary to prevent such guarantees from constituting a fraudulent conveyance or fraudulent transfer under applicable law.

The Parent Guarantor and the Issuer are holding companies that conduct substantially all of their operations through their subsidiaries, which own substantially all of our consolidated assets. The Parent Guarantor holds the stock of its immediate 100% owned subsidiary, the Issuer, but has no material consolidated assets. The principal source of cash to pay the Parent Guarantor's and the Issuer's obligations, including obligations under the Senior Notes and the guarantee of the Issuer's obligations under the existing U.S. Credit Agreements, is the cash that our subsidiaries generate from their operations. Each of the Subsidiary Guarantors and our non-guarantor subsidiaries is a distinct legal entity and, under certain circumstances, applicable country or state laws, regulatory limitations and terms of other debt instruments may limit our subsidiaries' ability to distribute cash to the Issuer and the Parent Guarantor.

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For cash management purposes, we transfer cash among the Parent Guarantor, Issuer, Subsidiary Guarantors and non-guarantors through intercompany financing arrangements, contributions or declaration of dividends between the respective parent and its subsidiaries. While the non-guarantor subsidiaries do not guarantee the Issuer's obligations under our outstanding debt, the transfer of cash under these activities facilitates the ability of the recipient to make specified third-party payments for principal and interest on the Senior Notes, the existing U.S. Credit Agreements, other outstanding debt, Common Stock dividends and Common Stock repurchases.

The summarized financial information of the Obligor Group is presented below on a combined basis after the elimination of: (i) intercompany transactions among such entities and (ii) equity in earnings from and investments in the non-guarantor subsidiaries. Transactions with, and amounts due to or from, non-guarantor subsidiaries and affiliates are separately disclosed.

Share Capital

On February 7, 2024, we declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.70 per share on our Common Stock amounting to approximately $76 million. The cash dividend will be paid on March 5, 2024 to holders of record as of February 20, 2024.

Our Board of Directors has authorized the aggregate repurchase of $6.9 billion of our Common Stock since February 2008. These authorizations give management discretion in determining the timing and conditions under which shares may be repurchased. This repurchase program does not have an expiration date. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we did not repurchase any shares of our Common Stock. As of December 31, 2023, we had $1.1 billion remaining under authorizations by our Board of Directors.

See Note 14 - Shareholders' Equity in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

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Contractual Obligations, Guarantees and Commitments

We calculated $3.3 billion of all future interest payments on debt and other obligations using the rate in effect on December 31, 2023 and $495 million of all future pension and other postretirement funding obligations. We have directly guaranteed various debt obligations under agreements with third parties related to certain equity affiliates. As of December 31, 2023, we have directly guaranteed $145 million and €31 million of such obligations.

We have not entered into any material off-balance sheet arrangements.

In the accompanying consolidated financial statements, see Note 10 - Current Other Liabilities for current asset retirement obligations, Note 11 - Debt for a description of the guarantees under our Senior Notes and Credit Agreement, Note 12 - Benefit Obligations for a description of the pension and other postretirement funding obligations, Note 13 - Environmental for a description of environmental obligations, Note 15 - Income Taxes for a description of uncertain tax positions, Note 16 - Leases for lease obligations and Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies for a discussion of commitments and contingencies related to legal and regulatory proceedings.

Market Risks

See Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure about Market Risk for further information.

Business Environment

We continued to experience destocking in addition to volatile underlying demand conditions across several end-markets in 2023. We continue to closely monitor the impact of, and responses to, geopolitical effects on demand conditions and the supply chain. Demand conditions and moderating raw material costs resulted in elevated industry competitive dynamics and continuing pricing pressure across end-markets. We expect demand challenges to persist and to pressure pricing, which effects we anticipate to be partially offset by improvement in input costs across the year.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are based on the selection and application of significant accounting policies. The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of net sales, expenses and allocated charges during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. However, we are not currently aware of any reasonably likely events or circumstances that would result in materially different results.

We believe the following accounting policies and estimates are critical to understanding the financial reporting risks present in the current economic environment. These matters, and the judgments and uncertainties affecting them, are also essential to understanding our reported and future operating results. See Note 2 - Summary of Accounting Policies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

•Purchase Accounting

We recognize the identifiable tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values as of the acquisition date. The excess of purchase price over the aggregate fair values is recorded as goodwill. Intangible assets are valued using the relief from royalty, multi-period excess earnings and discounted cash flow methodologies, which are considered Level 3 measurements. The relief from royalty method estimates our theoretical royalty savings from ownership of the intangible asset. Key assumptions used in this method include discount rates, royalty rates, growth rates, sales projections and terminal value rates. Key assumptions used in the multi-period excess earnings method include discount rates, retention rates, growth rates, sales projections, expense projections and contributory asset charges. Key assumptions used in the discounted cash flow valuation model include discount rates, growth rates, tax rates, cash flow projections and terminal value rates. All of these methodologies require significant management judgment and, therefore, are susceptible to change. We calculate the fair value of the identifiable tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed to allocate the purchase price at the acquisition date. We may use the assistance of third-party valuation consultants. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

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•Recoverability of Long-Lived Assets

Recoverability of Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Assets

We assess the recoverability of the carrying amount of our goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets annually during the third quarter of our fiscal year using June 30 balances or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset may not be fully recoverable.

When assessing the recoverability of goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets, we may first assess qualitative factors in determining whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit or another indefinite-lived intangible asset is less than its carrying amount. The qualitative evaluation is an assessment of multiple factors, including the current operating environment, financial performance and market considerations. We may elect to bypass the qualitative assessment for some or all of our reporting units or other indefinite-lived intangible assets and proceed directly to a quantitative analysis depending on the facts and circumstances.

In performing a quantitative analysis of goodwill, recoverability of goodwill for each reporting unit is measured using a discounted cash flow model incorporating discount rates commensurate with the risks involved. The key assumptions used in the discounted cash flow valuation model include discount rates, growth rates, tax rates, cash flow projections and terminal value rates. Discount rates, growth rates and cash flow projections are the most sensitive and susceptible to change as they require significant management judgment.

Management tests other indefinite-lived intangible assets quantitatively utilizing the relief from royalty method under the income approach to determine the estimated fair value for each indefinite-lived intangible asset. Key assumptions used in this model include discount rates, royalty rates, growth rates, tax rates, sales projections and terminal value rates. Discount rates, royalty rates, growth rates, tax rates and sales projections are the assumptions most sensitive and susceptible to change as they require significant management judgment.

Specific assumptions discussed above are updated at the date of each test to consider current industry and company-specific risk factors from the perspective of a market participant. The current business environment is subject to evolving market conditions and requires significant management judgment to interpret the potential impact to our assumptions. To the extent that changes in the current business environment result in adjusted management projections, impairment losses may occur in future periods.

See Note 9 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Net in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

•Benefit Obligations

Various assumptions are used in the calculation of the actuarial valuation of the employee benefit plans. These key assumptions include the discount rate and expected long-term rates of return on plan assets. The actuarial assumptions used may differ materially from actual results due to changing market and economic conditions. These differences may result in a significant impact to the amount of net periodic benefit cost recorded in future periods.

Pension assumptions are reviewed annually in the fourth quarter of each fiscal year and whenever a plan is required to be remeasured. Assumptions are reviewed on a plan and country-specific basis by third-party actuaries and senior management. Such assumptions are adjusted as appropriate to reflect changes in market rates and outlook.

See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

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The estimated change in pension net periodic benefit cost and projected benefit obligations that would occur in 2024 from a change in the indicated assumptions are as follows:

______________________________

(1)Excludes nonqualified pension plans.

•Income Taxes

We regularly review our deferred tax assets for recoverability and establish a valuation allowance as needed. In forming our judgment regarding the recoverability of deferred tax assets related to deductible temporary differences and tax attribute carryforwards, we give weight to positive and negative evidence based on the extent to which the forms of evidence can be objectively verified.

The recoverability of deferred tax assets and the recognition and measurement of uncertain tax positions are subject to various assumptions and management judgment. If actual results differ from the estimates made by management in establishing or maintaining valuation allowances against deferred tax assets, the resulting change in the valuation allowance would generally impact earnings or Other comprehensive income depending on the nature of the respective deferred tax asset. In addition, the positions taken with regard to tax contingencies may be subject to audit and review by tax authorities, which may result in future taxes, interest and penalties.

See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 3 - Recent Accounting Pronouncements in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for information regarding recent accounting pronouncements.

Results of Operations

Financial Highlights

_____________________________

(1)Defined as Operating profit (loss) divided by Net sales.

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Factors Affecting Business Segment Net Sales

The percentage increase (decrease) in Net sales attributable to each of the factors indicated for each of our business segments is as follows:

Year Ended December 31, 2022 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2021

Consolidated Results

Year Ended December 31, 2022 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2021

Net sales increased $1.1 billion, or 13%, for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 primarily due to:

•higher pricing in both of our segments, primarily driven by our Engineered Materials segment, due to higher raw material costs, higher energy costs and product mix; and

•higher volume in our Engineered Materials segment, primarily in elastomers related to our acquisition of the majority of the Mobility & Materials business (the "M&M Business"), our acquisition of the Santoprene™ thermoplastic vulcanizates elastomers business of Exxon Mobil Corporation ("Santoprene"), as well as the Korea Engineering Plastics Co., Ltd., ("KEPCO") restructuring;

partially offset by:

•an unfavorable currency impact resulting from a weaker euro relative to the U.S. dollar; and

•lower volume in our Acetyl Chain segment, primarily due to decreased demand in Asia.

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $191 million, or 30%, for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, primarily due to:

•higher functional and project spending of $187 million in Other Activities, primarily related to our acquisitions of the M&M Business and Santoprene.

Operating profit decreased $568 million, or 29%, for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 primarily due to:

•higher raw material and energy costs in both of our segments;

•higher spending in both of our segments, primarily as a result of our acquisitions of the M&M Business and Santoprene, as well as increased plant operating and maintenance expenses; and

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•lower Net sales in our Acetyl Chain segment;

partially offset by:

•higher Net sales in our Engineered Materials segment.

Non-operating pension and other postretirement employee benefit income decreased $89 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 primarily due to an increase in recognized actuarial loss of $40 million as a result of lower than expected actual asset returns, partially offset by an increase in the weighted average discount rate used to determine benefit obligations from 2.5% to 4.9% and a decrease in expected asset returns of $39 million. See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Our effective income tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2022 was (34)% compared to 15% for the year ended 2021. The lower effective income tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 was primarily due to the reorganization of our foreign legal entity holding structure and relocation of certain of our intangible assets to align with the acquired M&M Business foreign operations. See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Discussion of our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 and for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, can be found in Part II - Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our Annual Reports for the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.

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Business Segments

Engineered Materials

Year Ended December 31, 2022 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2021

Net sales increased for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 primarily due to:

•higher volume, primarily in elastomers related to our acquisition of the M&M Business, our acquisition of Santoprene, as well as the KEPCO restructuring. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information; and

•higher pricing for most of our products, primarily due to higher raw material costs, higher energy costs and product mix;

partially offset by:

•an unfavorable currency impact resulting from a weaker euro relative to the U.S. dollar.

Operating profit increased for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 primarily due to:

•higher Net sales;

largely offset by:

•higher raw material costs for all of our products and increased sourcing costs as a result of higher logistical costs and global shipping constraints and our acquisition of the M&M Business;

•higher spending of $258 million, primarily as a result of our acquisitions of the M&M Business and Santoprene, as well as plant operating and administrative expenses; and

•higher energy costs of $124 million, primarily for steam.

Equity in net earnings (loss) of affiliates increased for the for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 primarily due to:

•an increase in equity investment in earnings of $90 million from our Ibn Sina strategic affiliate, primarily as a result of tighter market conditions and stronger demand.

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Acetyl Chain

Year Ended December 31, 2022 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2021

Net sales decreased for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 primarily due to:

•lower volume for most of our products due to decreased demand, primarily in Asia; and

•an unfavorable currency impact resulting from a weaker euro relative to the U.S. dollar;

partially offset by:

•higher pricing for most of our products, primarily due to tighter market conditions as a result of increased customer demand in the Western Hemisphere and supply constraints across most regions; and

•higher volume for VAM due to increased demand.

Operating profit decreased for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 primarily due to:

•higher raw material and sourcing costs, primarily for methanol and carbon monoxide due to stronger demand and tighter market conditions, as well as higher distribution costs due to global shipping constraints;

•lower Net sales;

•higher energy costs of $89 million, primarily due to price increases for natural gas and electricity; and

•higher spending of $53 million, primarily as a result of increased plant operating and maintenance expenses.

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Other Activities

Year Ended December 31, 2022 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2021

Operating loss increased for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 primarily due to:

•higher functional and project spending of $187 million, primarily related to our acquisitions of the M&M Business and Santoprene;

partially offset by:

•lower incentive compensation cost.

Non-operating pension and other postretirement employee benefit income decreased for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 primarily due to:

•an increase in recognized actuarial loss of $40 million as a result of lower than expected actual asset returns, partially offset by an increase in the weighted average discount rate used to determine benefit obligations from 2.5% to 4.9%, and a decrease in expected asset returns of $39 million. See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our primary sources of liquidity are cash generated from operations, available cash and cash equivalents, dividends from our portfolio of strategic investments and available borrowings under our senior unsecured revolving credit facility. As of December 31, 2022, we have $1.45 billion available for borrowing under our senior unsecured revolving credit facility, if required, in meeting our working capital needs and other contractual obligations. In addition, we held cash and cash equivalents of $1.5 billion as of December 31, 2022. We are actively managing our business to maintain cash flow, and we believe that liquidity from the above-referenced sources will be sufficient to meet our operational and capital investment needs and financial obligations for the foreseeable future.

On November 1, 2022, we acquired a majority of the M&M Business for a purchase price of $11.0 billion, subject to transaction adjustments, in an all-cash transaction. For further information regarding the acquisition and related financing transactions, see Debt and Other Obligations in this Liquidity and Capital Resources and Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

While our contractual obligations, commitments and debt service requirements over the next several years are significant, we continue to believe we will have available resources to meet our liquidity requirements, including debt service, for the next twelve months. If our cash flow from operations is insufficient to fund our debt service and other obligations, we may be required to use other means available to us such as increasing our borrowings, reducing or delaying capital expenditures, seeking additional capital or seeking to restructure or refinance our indebtedness. There can be no assurance, however, that we will continue to generate cash flows at or above current levels.

Capital expenditures were $543 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. We continue to prioritize those projects expected to drive productivity in the near-term and expect capital expenditures to be approximately $600 million in 2023, primarily due to certain investments in growth opportunities and productivity improvements. In Engineered Materials, our expansion of (1) the compounding capacity and (2) the new liquid crystal polymer ("LCP") unit at our facilities in Nanjing, China are, after experiencing some delays due to certain permitting issues, in detailed engineering design and our (3) energy optimization productivity project at our polyoxymethylene ("POM") unit in Frankfurt, Germany is in front end engineering design. In the Acetyl Chain, our planned expansion of (1) the capacity of our vinyl acetate ethylene ("VAE") emulsions units in Nanjing, China, (2) the capacity of our vinyl acetate monomer ("VAM") plant in Bay City, Texas, (3) the sustainable

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production of methanol at our Fairway joint venture methanol unit in Clear Lake, Texas using captured carbon dioxide as feedstock, (4) our acetic acid complex expansion in Clear Lake, Texas and (5) our VAE emulsion plant expansion in Frankfurt, Germany, are in various stages of construction and on schedule. We continue to see the incremental capacity from investments made in recent years strengthen our manufacturing network reliability to best serve our customers.

We did not repurchase any Common Stock during the year ended December 31, 2022.

On a stand-alone basis, Celanese and its immediate 100% owned subsidiary, Celanese U.S., have no independent external operations of their own. Accordingly, they generally depend on the cash flow of their subsidiaries and their ability to pay dividends and make other distributions to Celanese and Celanese U.S. in order to meet their obligations, including their obligations under senior credit facilities and senior notes, and to pay dividends on our Common Stock.

We are subject to capital controls and exchange restrictions imposed by the local governments in certain jurisdictions where we operate, such as China, India and Indonesia. Capital controls impose limitations on our ability to exchange currencies, repatriate earnings or capital, lend via intercompany loans or create cross-border cash pooling arrangements. Our largest exposure to a country with capital controls is in China. Pursuant to applicable regulations, foreign-invested enterprises in China may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with Chinese accounting standards and regulations. In addition, the Chinese government imposes certain currency exchange controls on cash transfers out of China, puts certain limitations on duration, purpose and amount of intercompany loans, and restricts cross-border cash pooling. While it is possible that future tightening of these restrictions or application of new similar restrictions could impact us, these limitations do not currently restrict our operations.

We remain in compliance with the financial covenants under our senior unsecured revolving credit facility and expect to remain in compliance based on our current expectation of future results of operations. If our actual future results of operations differ materially from these expectations, or if we otherwise experience increased indebtedness or substantially lower EBITDA, we may be required to seek an amendment or waiver of such covenants which may increase our borrowing costs under those debt instruments.

Cash Flows

Cash and cash equivalents increased $972 million to $1.5 billion as of December 31, 2022 compared to December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2022, $1.3 billion of the $1.5 billion of cash and cash equivalents was held by our foreign subsidiaries. Under the TCJA, we have incurred a prior year charge associated with the deemed repatriation of previously unremitted foreign earnings, including foreign held cash. These funds are largely accessible without additional material tax consequences, if needed in the U.S., to fund operations. See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Year Ended December 31, 2022 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2021

•Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities increased $62 million to $1.8 billion for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to $1.8 billion for the same period in 2021, primarily due to:

•favorable changes in trade working capital of $291 million, primarily due to the timing of collections of trade receivables, inventory builds and settlement of trade payables;

partially offset by:

•a lower earnings performance.

•Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities increased $10.0 billion to $11.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to $1.1 billion for the same period in 2021, primarily due to:

•a net cash outflow of $9.4 billion related to the M&M Acquisition in November 2022, partially offset by the acquisition of the Santoprene™ thermoplastic vulcanizates elastomers business of Exxon Mobil Corporation in 2021,which did not recur in the current year. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information; and

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•proceeds from the sale of marketable securities of $516 million, which did not recur in the current year.

•Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities increased $11.3 billion to $10.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to net cash used in financing activities of $1.0 billion for the same period in 2021, primarily due to:

•an increase in net proceeds of long-term debt of $10.0 billion, primarily due to the issuance of senior unsecured notes consisting of $2.0 billion in principal amount of 5.900% notes due July 5, 2024, $1.75 billion in principal amount of 6.050% notes due March 15, 2025, $2.0 billion in principal amount of 6.165% notes due July 15, 2027, $750 million in principal amount of 6.330% notes due July 15, 2029 and $1.0 billion in principal amount of 6.379% notes due July 15, 2032 (collectively, the "Acquisition USD Notes"), as well as senior unsecured notes consisting of €1.0 billion in principal amount of 4.777% notes due July 19, 2026 and €500 million in principal amount of 5.337% notes due January 19, 2029 (collectively, the "Acquisition Euro Notes" and, together with the Acquisition USD Notes, the "Acquisition Notes"), partially offset by the maturity of the 5.875% senior unsecured notes ("5.875% Notes") which were repaid during the year ended December 31, 2021;

•a decrease in share repurchases of our Common Stock of $983 million during the year ended December 31, 2022; and

•an increase in net borrowings on short-term debt of $336 million, primarily due to borrowing under the senior unsecured revolving credit facility related to the M&M Acquisition in November 2022.

In addition, exchange rates had a favorable impact of $4 million on cash and cash equivalents and an unfavorable impact of $15 million on cash and cash equivalents for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Debt and Other Obligations

•Senior Credit Facilities

In connection with the M&M Acquisition, on February 17, 2022, we entered into a bridge facility commitment letter with Bank of America, N.A. ("Bank of America") pursuant to which Bank of America committed to provide, subject to the terms and conditions set forth therein, a 364-day $11.0 billion senior unsecured bridge term loan facility (the "Bridge Facility"). Subsequently, commitments in respect of the Bridge Facility were syndicated to additional financial institutions as contemplated thereby.

On March 18, 2022, we entered into a term loan credit agreement (the "March 2022 Term Loan Credit Agreement"), pursuant to which lenders have provided a tranche of delayed-draw term loans due 364 days from issuance in an amount equal to $500 million and a tranche of delayed-draw term loans due 5 years from issuance in an amount equal to $1.0 billion. On September 16, 2022, Celanese, Celanese U.S. and certain subsidiaries entered into an additional term loan credit agreement (the "September 2022 Term Loan Credit Agreement" and, together with the March 2022 Term Loan Credit Agreement, the "Term Loan Credit Agreements"), pursuant to which lenders have provided delayed-draw term loans due 3 years from issuance in an amount equal to $750 million (the term loans represented by the Term Loan Credit Agreements collectively, the "Term Loan Facility"). The Term Loan Facility was fully drawn during the three months ended December 31, 2022. The Term Loan Facility is guaranteed by Celanese and domestic subsidiaries representing substantially all of our U.S. assets and business operations.

On March 18, 2022, we entered into a new revolving credit agreement (the "New Revolving Credit Agreement" and, together with the Term Loan Credit Agreements the "Credit Agreements") consisting of a $1.75 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility (with a letter of credit sublimit), maturing in 2027. The proceeds of a $365 million borrowing under the new senior unsecured revolving credit facility were used to repay and terminate our existing revolving credit facility.

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•Senior Notes

We have outstanding senior unsecured notes, issued in public offerings registered under the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), as amended, as follows (collectively, the "Senior Notes"):

The Senior Notes were issued by Celanese U.S. and are guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by Celanese and the Subsidiary Guarantors. Celanese U.S. may redeem some or all of each of the Senior Notes, prior to their respective maturity dates, at a redemption price of 100% of the principal amount, plus a "make-whole" premium as specified in the applicable indenture, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the redemption date.

On July 14, 2022 and July 19, 2022, Celanese U.S. completed the offerings of the Acquisition USD Notes and Acquisition Euro Notes, respectively. Fees and expenses of the offering of the Acquisition Notes, inclusive of underwriting discounts, were $65 million. Net proceeds from the sale of the Acquisition Notes were used to fund the purchase price for the M&M Acquisition, with any remaining proceeds being used for general corporate purposes.

The entry into the Term Loan Credit Agreements and the offerings of the Acquisition Notes reduced availability under the Bridge Facility to zero, and we terminated the Bridge Facility. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we paid $66 million in fees related to the Bridge Facility commitment, amortizing these fees to interest expense.

•Accounts Receivable Securitization Facility

In 2021, we entered into an amendment to the amended and restated receivables purchase agreement under our U.S. accounts receivable purchasing facility among certain of our subsidiaries, our wholly-owned, "bankruptcy remote" special purpose subsidiary ("SPE") and certain global financial institutions ("Purchasers"). We de-recognized $1.1 billion and $1.1 billion of accounts receivable under this agreement for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and collected $1.1 billion and $1.1 billion of accounts receivable sold under this agreement during the same periods. Unsold U.S. accounts receivable of $99 million were pledged by the SPE as collateral to the Purchasers as of December 31, 2022.

•Factoring and Discounting Agreements

We have factoring agreements in Europe and Singapore with financial institutions. We de-recognized $320 million and $230 million of accounts receivable under these factoring agreements for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and collected $325 million and $185 million of accounts receivable sold under these factoring agreements during the same periods.

In 2021, we entered into a letter of credit discounting agreement in Singapore with a financial institution. We de-recognized $50 million and $70 million of accounts receivable under this agreement for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Our material financing arrangements contain customary covenants, including the maintenance of certain financial ratios, events of default and change of control provisions. Failure to comply with these covenants, or the occurrence of any other event of

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default, could result in acceleration of the borrowings and other financial obligations. We are in compliance with all of the covenants related to our debt agreements as of December 31, 2022. On February 21, 2023, we amended the Credit Agreements for certain covenants included in the respective credit agreements.

See Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Guarantor Financial Information

We have outstanding senior unsecured notes, issued in public offerings registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (collectively, the "Senior Notes"). The Senior Notes were issued by Celanese U.S. ("Issuer") and are guaranteed by Celanese Corporation ("Parent Guarantor") and the Subsidiary Guarantors (collectively the "Obligor Group"). See Note 11 - Debt in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information. The Issuer and Subsidiary Guarantors are 100% owned subsidiaries of the Parent Guarantor. The Subsidiary Guarantors are listed in Exhibit 22.1 to this Annual Report.

The Parent Guarantor and the Subsidiary Guarantors have guaranteed the Senior Notes on a full and unconditional, joint and several, senior unsecured basis. The guarantees are subject to certain customary release provisions, including that a Subsidiary Guarantor will be released from its respective guarantee in specified circumstances, including (i) the sale or transfer of all of its assets or capital stock; (ii) its merger or consolidation with, or transfer of all or substantially all of its assets to, another person; or (iii) its ceasing to be a majority-owned subsidiary of the Issuer in connection with any sale of its capital stock or other transaction. Additionally, a Subsidiary Guarantor will be released from its guarantee of the Senior Notes at such time that it ceases to guarantee the Issuer's obligations under the Credit Agreement (subject to the satisfaction of customary document delivery requirements). The obligations of the Subsidiary Guarantors under their guarantees are limited as necessary to prevent such guarantees from constituting a fraudulent conveyance or fraudulent transfer under applicable law.

The Parent Guarantor and the Issuer are holding companies that conduct substantially all of their operations through their subsidiaries, which own substantially all of our consolidated assets. The Parent Guarantor has no material assets other than the stock of its immediate 100% owned subsidiary, the Issuer. The principal source of cash to pay the Parent Guarantor's and the Issuer's obligations, including obligations under the Senior Notes and the guarantee of the Issuer's obligations under the Credit Agreement, is the cash that our subsidiaries generate from their operations. Each of the Subsidiary Guarantors and our non-guarantor subsidiaries is a distinct legal entity and, under certain circumstances, applicable country or state laws, regulatory limitations and terms of other debt instruments may limit our subsidiaries' ability to distribute cash to the Issuer and the Parent Guarantor.

For cash management purposes, we transfer cash among the Parent Guarantor, Issuer, Subsidiary Guarantors and non-guarantors through intercompany financing arrangements, contributions or declaration of dividends between the respective parent and its subsidiaries. While the non-guarantor subsidiaries do not guarantee the Issuer's obligations under our outstanding debt, the transfer of cash under these activities facilitates the ability of the recipient to make specified third-party payments for principal and interest on the Senior Notes, Credit Agreement, other outstanding debt, Common Stock dividends and Common Stock repurchases.

The summarized financial information of the Obligor Group is presented below on a combined basis after the elimination of: (i) intercompany transactions among such entities and (ii) equity in earnings from and investments in the non-guarantor subsidiaries. Transactions with, and amounts due to or from, non-guarantor subsidiaries and affiliates are separately disclosed.

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Share Capital

On February 8, 2023, we declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.70 per share on our Common Stock amounting to approximately $76 million. The cash dividend will be paid on March 7, 2023 to holders of record as of February 21, 2023.

Our Board of Directors has authorized the aggregate repurchase of $6.9 billion of our Common Stock since February 2008. These authorizations give management discretion in determining the timing and conditions under which shares may be repurchased. This repurchase program does not have an expiration date. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we did not repurchase any shares of our Common Stock. As of December 31, 2022, we had $1.1 billion remaining under authorizations by our Board of Directors.

See Note 14 - Shareholders' Equity in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Contractual Obligations, Guarantees and Commitments

We calculated $2.7 billion of all future interest payments on debt and other obligations using the rate in effect on December 31, 2022 and $476 million of all future pension and other postretirement funding obligations. We have directly guaranteed various debt obligations under agreements with third parties related to certain equity affiliates. As of December 31, 2022, we have directly guaranteed $142 million and €27 million of such obligations.

We have not entered into any material off-balance sheet arrangements.

In the accompanying consolidated financial statements, see Note 10 - Current Other Liabilities for current asset retirement obligations, Note 11 - Debt for a description of the guarantees under our Senior Notes and Credit Agreement, Note 12 - Benefit Obligations for a description of the pension and other postretirement funding obligations, Note 13 - Environmental for a description of environmental obligations, Note 15 - Income Taxes for a description of uncertain tax positions, Note 16 - Leases for lease obligations and Note 19 - Commitments and Contingencies for a discussion of commitments and contingencies related to legal and regulatory proceedings.

Market Risks

See Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure about Market Risk for further information.

Business Environment

We experienced significant cost inflation, inflationary pressure and supply disruptions related to the sourcing of raw materials, energy, logistics and labor in 2022. We continue to closely monitor the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 variants, including government imposed lockdowns and permitted reopenings in various locations around the world, and the effects of geopolitical events on demand conditions and the supply chain. Demand conditions across certain regions in the Western Hemisphere and China deteriorated, creating uncertainty, impacting consumer activity and driving customer destocking.

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Average prices of energy feedstocks, particularly natural gas, which are a significant input and source of energy for our manufacturing operations, increased in the Western Hemisphere and particularly in Europe. We also experienced cost pressure on raw material inputs. We continued pricing actions intended to offset these inflationary headwinds experienced during 2022. Moderation of acetyls pricing trended to more normalized levels by the end of 2022. We expect sourcing costs and inflationary pressures to improve in 2023.

We continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine. While the conflict has not had a material impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations to date, we have experienced shortages in materials and increased costs for transportation, energy and raw materials as well as other supply chain challenges, particularly in Europe, due in part to the effects of the conflict, and government responses thereto, including sanctions, on the global economy. We continue to monitor these developments.

Following Russia's invasion, we have suspended sales into Russia, Belarus and the sanctioned regions of Ukraine. Revenue from these countries and regions constituted less than 1% of our consolidated Net sales for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 and we have no manufacturing assets in these countries or regions.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are based on the selection and application of significant accounting policies. The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of net sales, expenses and allocated charges during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. However, we are not currently aware of any reasonably likely events or circumstances that would result in materially different results.

We believe the following accounting policies and estimates are critical to understanding the financial reporting risks present in the current economic environment. These matters, and the judgments and uncertainties affecting them, are also essential to understanding our reported and future operating results. See Note 2 - Summary of Accounting Policies in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

•Purchase Accounting

We recognize the identifiable tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values as of the acquisition date. The excess of purchase price over the aggregate fair values is recorded as goodwill. Intangible assets are valued using the relief from royalty, multi-period excess earnings and discounted cash flow methodologies, which are considered Level 3 measurements. The relief from royalty method estimates our theoretical royalty savings from ownership of the intangible asset. Key assumptions used in this method include discount rates, royalty rates, growth rates, sales projections and terminal value rates. Key assumptions used in the multi-period excess earnings method include discount rates, retention rates, growth rates, sales projections, expense projections and contributory asset charges. Key assumptions used in the discounted cash flow valuation model include discount rates, growth rates, tax rates, cash flow projections and terminal value rates. All of these methodologies require significant management judgment and, therefore, are susceptible to change. We calculate the fair value of the identifiable tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed to allocate the purchase price at the acquisition date. We may use the assistance of third-party valuation consultants. See Note 4 - Acquisitions, Dispositions and Plant Closures in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

•Recoverability of Long-Lived Assets

Recoverability of Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Assets

We assess the recoverability of the carrying amount of our goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets annually during the third quarter of our fiscal year using June 30 balances or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset may not be fully recoverable.

When assessing the recoverability of goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets, we may first assess qualitative factors in determining whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit or other indefinite-lived intangible asset is less than its carrying amount. The qualitative evaluation is an assessment of multiple factors, including the current operating environment, financial performance and market considerations. We may elect to bypass the qualitative assessment for some or all of our reporting units or other indefinite-lived intangible assets and proceed directly to a quantitative analysis depending on the facts and circumstances.

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In performing a quantitative analysis of goodwill, recoverability of goodwill for each reporting unit is measured using a discounted cash flow model incorporating discount rates commensurate with the risks involved. The key assumptions used in the discounted cash flow valuation model include discount rates, growth rates, tax rates, cash flow projections and terminal value rates. Discount rates, growth rates and cash flow projections are the most sensitive and susceptible to change as they require significant management judgment.

Management tests other indefinite-lived intangible assets quantitatively utilizing the relief from royalty method under the income approach to determine the estimated fair value for each indefinite-lived intangible asset. Key assumptions used in this model include discount rates, royalty rates, growth rates, tax rates, sales projections and terminal value rates. Discount rates, royalty rates, growth rates, growth rates and sales projections are the assumptions most sensitive and susceptible to change as they require significant management judgment.

Specific assumptions discussed above are updated at the date of each test to consider current industry and company-specific risk factors from the perspective of a market participant. The current business environment is subject to evolving market conditions and requires significant management judgment to interpret the potential impact to our assumptions. To the extent that changes in the current business environment result in adjusted management projections, impairment losses may occur in future periods.

See Note 9 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Net in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

•Benefit Obligations

Various assumptions are used in the calculation of the actuarial valuation of the employee benefit plans. These key assumptions include the discount rate and expected long-term rates of return on plan assets. The actuarial assumptions used may differ materially from actual results due to changing market and economic conditions. These differences may result in a significant impact to the amount of net periodic benefit cost recorded in future periods.

Pension assumptions are reviewed annually in the fourth quarter of each fiscal year and whenever a plan is required to be remeasured. Assumptions are reviewed on a plan and country-specific basis by third-party actuaries and senior management. Such assumptions are adjusted as appropriate to reflect changes in market rates and outlook.

See Note 12 - Benefit Obligations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

The estimated change in pension net periodic benefit cost and projected benefit obligations that would occur in 2023 from a change in the indicated assumptions are as follows:

______________________________

(1)Excludes nonqualified pension plans.

•Income Taxes

We regularly review our deferred tax assets for recoverability and establish a valuation allowance as needed. In forming our judgment regarding the recoverability of deferred tax assets related to deductible temporary differences and tax attribute carryforwards, we give weight to positive and negative evidence based on the extent to which the forms of evidence can be objectively verified.

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The recoverability of deferred tax assets and the recognition and measurement of uncertain tax positions are subject to various assumptions and management judgment. If actual results differ from the estimates made by management in establishing or maintaining valuation allowances against deferred tax assets, the resulting change in the valuation allowance would generally impact earnings or Other comprehensive income depending on the nature of the respective deferred tax asset. In addition, the positions taken with regard to tax contingencies may be subject to audit and review by tax authorities, which may result in future taxes, interest and penalties.

See Note 15 - Income Taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further information.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 3 - Recent Accounting Pronouncements in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for information regarding recent accounting pronouncements.

Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K ("Annual Report"), the term "Celanese" refers to Celanese Corporation, a Delaware corporation, and not its subsidiaries. The terms the "Company," "we," "our" and "us," refer to Celanese and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. The term "Celanese U.S." refers to the Company's subsidiary, Celanese US Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and not its subsidiaries.

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the accompanying consolidated financial statements and notes to the consolidated financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("U.S. GAAP").

Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements contained in this section and other parts of this Annual Report involve both risk and uncertainty. Several important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these statements. Many of these statements are macroeconomic in nature and are, therefore, beyond the control of management. See "Forward-Looking Statements" below.

Forward-Looking Statements

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ("MD&A") and other parts of this Annual Report contain certain forward-looking statements and information relating to us that are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, us. Generally, words such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "may," "can," "could," "might," and "will," and similar expressions, as they relate to us are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current views and beliefs with respect to future events at the time that the statements are made, are not historical facts or guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. See "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" at the beginning of this Annual Report for further discussion.

COVID-19 Update

The COVID-19 pandemic and the various responses thereto, including government-imposed quarantines, stay-at-home restrictions, travel restrictions and other public health and safety measures, continue to evolve. Our employees' health and well-being continue to be of vital importance and we continue to monitor the pandemic in the areas where we have employees and operations. We implemented government recommended protocols and best practices related to social distancing and hygiene. We implemented careful return-to-office efforts in accordance with government regulations and recommended protocols.

After declining during 2020, consumer demand for most applications has increased and rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels in many regions of the world, which has positively impacted our results of operations. Where we temporarily reduced run rates in prior quarters, our plants are now operating at more normalized levels, although, like many companies, we have experienced a tightening labor market, with increased competitiveness and higher costs for the pool of talent critical for specialty manufacturing and other operations.

Due to potential impacts of COVID-19 resurgences and variants, some uncertainty remains in the pandemic's future duration and scope. The extent to which resurgences or other variants of COVID-19 may adversely impact demand for our products, availability and price of raw materials and the labor supply, and therefore our business, financial condition and results of operations, will depend on numerous factors, including the effectiveness of vaccines, the extent and locations of any resurgences of the virus, health and safety measures and the continuing impact of the pandemic on supply chains (including the availability and cost of transportation and materials). On September 9, 2021, the President directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promulgate rules requiring large employers to mandate employee vaccinations. These rules, referred to as the emergency temporary standard ("ETS") were subject to a number of legal challenges, including applications for emergency injunctions. These actions were consolidated before the United States Supreme Court, which issued a decision in January 2022 that stayed implementation of the ETS. In the United States, the ETS or similar regulations could be re-approved or re-issued in a similar or different form, and around the world we anticipate that national, state and local governments will continue to pursue regulatory or legislative action designed to curb the spread of COVID-19. Such efforts could impose additional costs on our operations. These factors are uncertain, rapidly changing and cannot be predicted.

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The extent to which COVID-19 will adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations will depend on numerous evolving factors, which are highly uncertain, rapidly changing and cannot be predicted. For further information regarding the impact COVID-19 could have on our business, financial condition and results of operations, see Item 1A. Risk Factors. For further discussion of our liquidity condition, see Liquidity and Capital Resources in this Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.