Huntsman breaks off talks with buyers

Salt Lake City-based Huntsman Corp. broke off talks with potential buyers after receiving bids that were too low. It also said fourth-quarter profit was hurt by $140 million in hurricane-related costs.

Selling at the offered prices was not in the best interests of shareholders, Huntsman said Sunday in a statement. The bids were above last year's initial public offering price of $23 a share, it said. Since Jan. 30, before the talks were disclosed, Huntsman shares had risen 18 percent to $22.95, giving the company a market value of $5.06 billion.

"The stock has been driven up by people who were speculating that the company was going to be successful in selling itself," Michael Judd, founder of Greenwich Consultants in Rumson, N.J., said in a telephone interview. "It's going to turn out to be a bad bet."

Huntsman, the fourth-largest U.S. chemical maker, probably will fall today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Judd said.

Huntsman shares haven't reflected the full value of the company's differentiated businesses, which include polyurethane used to make furniture padding and other consumer products, Jon M. Huntsman Sr., founder and chairman, said in the statement. The company will continue to evaluate alternatives to realize the potential of those businesses, he said.

The offers "were not adequate, particularly in light of the risks, uncertainties and extended timing of the proposed transactions," Huntsman said.

"We have said since the early days of our IPO that a major part of the business plan was to invest in our differentiated businesses," spokesman Don Olsen said. "It is our intention to expand and grow those as the opportunities present themselves," including potential acquisitions, he said. Selling the units is not in the plan, Olson said.

Discussions had been held with a number of potential acquirers or merger partners since a potential buyer made an "expression of interest" late last year, the company said last week. Olsen declined to comment further Sunday, saying Huntsman won't discuss who made offers or how much they offered.

Huntsman was approached by buyout specialist Apollo Management LP though other private-equity firms have expressed interest, the Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 31.

The company also said fourth-quarter earnings will be lower due to higher-than-expected costs from hurricane damage and disruptions.

The storms will cost the company $140 million, or 60 cents a share, more than Huntsman's November estimate of $130 million. The eye of Hurricane Rita came ashore near Huntsman's largest facility in North America, the company said.

In November, Huntsman reported a third-quarter net loss of $29.8 million as plant maintenance and Gulf Coast hurricanes reduced output.