With the multibillion-dollar sale of the Huntsman family's chemical empire — which traces its beginnings to a McDonald's clamshell container for Big Mac hamburgers — Utah industrialist and philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr. says he can now focus his attention on the fight against cancer.

"My dreams in life have never been to try and build a major international chemical business," Huntsman told the Deseret Morning News from London. "My hopes and desires in life have been to eliminate human suffering, mostly through cancer, and to try to bring peace and a pain-free existence to people who suffer."

The Huntsman Corp. has been sold to a European company in a $9.6 billion deal, the Salt Lake City-based company announced Tuesday. Access Industries, through its European subsidiary Basell Holdings, based in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, will pay $25.25 per share in cash or roughly $5.88 billion and will assume approximately $3.7 billion in debt. As of March 31, Huntsman Corp. reported that amount of total debt, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Huntsman, 70, founder and chairman of Huntsman Corp., said the sale will bring in roughly $1.5 billion cash for his family.

The windfall means Huntsman can now concentrate his efforts on the Huntsman Foundation, a charitable fund focused on fighting cancer.

He said that on Monday he transferred $600 million worth of stock to the foundation. The stock is expected to be converted to cash by the end of this year. The difference — $900 million — also will be put in the foundation over the coming years.

Huntsman said he already has given a lot of his fortune away — about $525 million to charitable causes.

"We're just truly blessed now that we have a new, fresh start," Huntsman said. "I have substantial other plans for new businesses and new opportunities for investment. In the meantime, I will always stay close in one way or another to the chemical business. It's like one of my children. It's been with me for the last 37 years. My heart will always be there with the people, customers and suppliers."

The transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Huntsman and Basell Holdings but is subject to regulatory approval in the United States and in Europe, as well as the approval of Huntsman shareholders.

Peter Huntsman, president and chief executive officer of Huntsman Corp., will continue to serve in both capacities at the company's administrative headquarters in Houston.

The roughly 50 employees at Huntsman Corp.'s world headquarters in the Salt Lake office, as well as the 1,000 employees in the Houston area, will be unaffected by the acquisition at least for the next year, Peter Huntsman said. Huntsman Sr. said no decisions have been made as to what position he may hold in the new company.