Deals
Huntsman's $6.4 Billion Deal With Clariant Caps Eight-Year Itch
- No longer faced with ‘a moving target,’ says Huntsman CEO
- U.S., Swiss chemical makers to bring complementary offerings
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When Peter Huntsman met early last month with Hariolf Kottmann, the leaders of Huntsman Corp. and Clariant AG quickly realized obstacles that had kept the chemical companies from merging for years had evaporated.
“It didn’t happen sooner because Clariant and Huntsman both have been in perpetual acquisition or divestiture or restructuring modes, and it’s tough to pin down a moving target,” Huntsman, the chief executive officer of the company his father founded, said in an interview Monday. “When we both sat down, we realized all those reasons in the past that were before us are no longer here today.”