Basell's deadline for Huntsman bid is today

All parties involved in the bidding war for Salt Lake-based chemical company Huntsman Corp. said Tuesday that today is the deadline for Dutch company Basell to raise its $5.6 billion bid and top a rival suitor.

The deadline was reset Sunday when private equity firm Apollo Management LP increased its offer to $6.5 billion, from its original offer of $6 billion.

Apollo, making bids through its Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. unit based in Columbus, Ohio, acted to pre-empt a counteroffer or to impress the Huntsman board, analysts said.

Basell, controlled by U.S. industrialist Len Blavatnik's Access Industries Inc., was the first to offer to buy Huntsman Corp. for $25.25 per share, but it was quickly trumped by Apollo's bids.

"I'm sure Apollo felt they needed to raise their bid to indicate the seriousness of their offer," Jefferies & Co. analyst Laurence Alexander said Tuesday. "If anyone else was going to jump in, they probably would have done it by now."

Basell gets three days to match or top any offer for Huntsman, moving its deadline to the close of business Wednesday, spokesmen for Huntsman, Basell and Apollo confirmed Tuesday.

Huntsman wasn't commenting on the bidding war, and Basell wouldn't say if it was preparing a higher bid.

Huntsman spokesman Russell Stolle said the company notified Basell of the higher bid from Apollo on Sunday.

Apollo raised its bid by 2.7 percent Sunday, to $28 from $27.25 a share for all outstanding shares of Huntsman, which went public in February 2005.

Anyone buying Huntsman also would assume about $4 billion in debt. The company is based in Salt Lake City but operates from the Houston area.

Huntsman Corp. generates about $10.6 billion in annual revenue, according to the latest quarterly figures from financial data provider Capital IQ.

The bidding has buoyed Huntsman shares, although they closed down 35 cents to $27.72 on Tuesday.