The world's largest privately owned chemical manufacturer is ready to go public.

On Wednesday, Salt Lake-based Huntsman Corp. filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of its common stock. The company hopes to raise $1.3 billion from the sale of its shares and plans to use the proceeds to pay down debt.

As of Sept. 30, Huntsman's total debt was $6.2 billion, according to the SEC filing.

A date for the offering has not yet been set.

Shares will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HUN."

Huntsman's offering follows a global slump in the chemical industry. Weak demand and the volatile price of crude oil and natural gas — which are used as feedstocks for the production of many chemicals — have plagued the industry.

Huntsman sells more than 2,000 products that are used in an array of applications that can be found in adhesives, durable and non-durable consumer products, electronics, medical components, paints, aerospace, automotive and construction parts.

The company's net loss for the first nine months of 2004 widened to $226.5 million, compared to a net loss of $214.2 million during the same period in 2003, the SEC filing said. Net losses have been incurred in each of the past five fiscal years.

Revenues for the company for the first nine months of 2004 reached $8.4 billion compared to $4.7 billion during the same period a year ago.

Jon M. Huntsman, 67, chairman of the board, founded the company in the early 1970s, creating a container for McDonald's hamburgers.

Since then, the company has acquired a number of chemical operations and businesses. In the past six years, Huntsman has invested more than $500 million in capital expenditures and completed seven acquisitions.

Peter R. Huntsman, 41, is president and chief executive officer.

Huntsman operates 63 manufacturing facilities located in 22 countries and employs 11,600 people.

Underwriters for the offering include Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, Merrill Lynch and Co. and Deutsche Bank Securities.

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