Huntsman Retains Textiles, Names TiO2 Spin-Off
US chemical producer Huntsman has reconsidered and decided to exclude the textile effects business from the proposed spin-off of its titanium dioxide (TiO2) division.
Last August, CEO Peter Huntsman said the group was planning to add textile effects to the package as the business’s earnings were more stable than those for the pigment and would provide a buffer when TiO2 was in a trough.
Commenting on its about-turn, Huntsman said improved TiO2 prices as well as identified business improvement opportunities representing more than $75 million in annual EBITDA are expected to significantly enhance the financial strength of the spin-off. The $75 million in business improvements are incremental to current earnings and are expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
The company has also announced that the pigments spin-off will be called Venator Materials Corporation. The name – Venator is Latin for hunter – is partly intended to acknowledge the Huntsman legacy, the now Texas-headquartered group said. Shares are expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker VNTR after distribution to Huntsman’s shareholders, which remains targeted for the second quarter of 2017.
“We expect Venator will be a premier pigments company unencumbered by excessive debt or other unrelated liabilities,” said Huntsman. The company has been planning to separate its TiO2 business after acquiring Rockwood’s pigments and additives business in September 2014.
