Chemical giant Huntsman to merge with Swiss firm

Houston-area specialty products maker to join Clariant in $14B deal.

Texas-based Huntsman Corp. said Monday it plans to merge with Swiss company Clariant in a $14 billion deal that would create one of the world’s largest specialty chemicals companies.

The all-stock deal would create HuntsmanClariant. Huntsman CEO Peter Huntsman would serve as CEO with Clariant AG CEO Harold Kottmann as the chairman. Clariant shareholders would hold about 52 percent of the combined company, and both companies would have equal seats on the board.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. The combined company’s global headquarters would be in Pratteln, Switzerland, with operational headquarters in The Woodlands, a Houston suburb.

“This is the perfect deal at the right time,” Kottmann said in a written statement.

“Together, we will create a global leader in specialty chemicals with a combined balance sheet providing substantial financial strength and flexibility,” Peter Huntsman said in a written statement.

Huntsman has suggested in recent interviews that the company was considering such deals as a way to grow.

“We are probably more open to the idea of a potential merger than we would have been in the past,” Huntsman said in a previous interview. “This company is poised to expand, and I like to think mergers is one of those areas.”

Huntsman has a market capitalization value of $6.4 billion versus Clariant’s value of just more than $7 billion.

The two companies combine to employ more than 32,000 people in over 100 countries. Huntsman accounts for about 15,000 people in more than 30 countries.

Huntsman employs 1,000 people in The Woodlands, including 300 at its nearby Advanced Technology Center. That’s not counting additional workers at Huntsman’s regional manufac-