Merger not in danger, industry analyst believes

cal industry analyst for New York-based Alembic Global Advisors, said he’s pretty confident the merger will close by the end of the year, with Goldman Sachs helping to argue against any alternatives Meister’s team might propose.

Investor activism crusades have proved less successful in Europe than in the U.S., Ahmed said, and there doesn’t appear to be any “white knight” offering a better deal for Clariant.

“Clariant had been on the sales block for several years and the fact of the matter is no one stepped up,” Ahmed said.“In one clean swoop,” he added, Clariant will get greater access to U.S. markets and, maybe more importantly, access to cheap U.S. shale gas feedstocks for its specialty chemical products, he said.

Goldman Sachs declined comment.

Huntsman and Clariant plan to combine by the end of the year in a socalled merger of equals, forming a company valued at about $14 billion. The formal headquarters for HuntsmanClariant would be in Clariant’s hometown of Pratteln, Switzerland, in part for tax purposes, while The Woodlands would become the North American headquarters for the combined company.

Huntsman CEO Peter Huntsman would become chief executive of the merged company.

In an email response last month, Peter Huntsman said they remain highly confident in the rationale for the merger benefiting shareholders of both companies. In a not-so-subtle dig at White Tale buying up more stock after the deal was announced, he added that “long-term investors ... understand the substantial benefits of this transaction.”

Likewise, Clariant CEO Hariolf Kottmann is downplaying any concerns, calling it “normal procedure” during this merger phase.

He said they’re keeping an open dialogue with all the affected shareholders.