Apollo raises Huntsman bid

"The board through its advisers continues to be in contact with both Hexion and Basell," Huntsman spokesman Russ Stolle said Monday. "The board will continue to exercise its fiduciary duties to shareholders."

Huntsman is based in Salt Lake City but operates from the Houston area.

Fortune magazine lists Huntsman's annual revenue at $13.1 billion. Hexion is listed as the 16th-largest chemical company with revenue of $5.2 billion.

Chemical companies have been dealing with high costs for their primary raw materials, petroleum products. Larger size could help the companies negotiate better terms with suppliers.

Chemical companies also look more attractive to investors because they have benefited from growing demand for plastic used in everything from soda bottles to automobiles. The strong plastics market has given them strength to raise prices enough to cover higher raw material costs.

Blavatnik, the financier behind Basell, drew attention in May when he announced plans to buy an 8.3 percent stake in Houston-based Lyondell Chemical Co. by picking up shares being sold by Occidental Petroleum Corp. Lyondell is one of the largest U.S. chemical companies. It makes building blocks for plastics and gasoline additives.

Neve, the Basell spokesman, said Blavatnik's options to buy the Lyondell stock expire next year and he has not exercised them yet. Neve said Blavatnik has a long-term strategic interest in the chemicals industry and favored Lyondell as one of the sector's global leaders.

Huntsman Corp.'s roots date back to 1970, when Jon Huntsman Sr. left Dow Chemical Co. to start the Huntsman Container Corp., which pioneered the clamshell container for the Big Mac.

He has said that the Basell deal would yield nearly $1.5 billion cash for his family. He also said he recently had transferred $600 million worth of stock to the Huntsman Foundation, a major benefactor of the family's Huntsman Cancer Institute and Hospital on the campus of the University of Utah.

Peter Huntsman, president and chief executive officer of Huntsman Corp., has said that under the Access offer, the roughly 50 employees at the 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.

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Contributing: Bloomberg News