Huntsman Corporation has strongly refuted the White Tale Holdings allegations against the company’s performance.  White Tale Holdings, a Cayman Islands based investment vehicle controlled by short-term oriented hedge funds, 40 North and Corvex, which invested in Clariant only after the merger announcement, and now holds a stake in Clariant in excess of 15%.

“White Tale has resorted to demonstrably false attacks on Huntsman’s performance and its portfolio in a transparent and self-serving attempt to derail our strategic merger of equals with Clariant.  In an apparent effort to engineer a short-term rise in the Clariant stock price, White Tale has advanced a destructive, high risk strategy of dismantling Clariant and denying all other stakeholders of the company the sustainable, long-term benefits of this compelling combination,” Peter Huntsman, President and CEO, Huntsman Corporation, said.

“White Tale’s attacks on Huntsman are false.  Since March 2016, when Huntsman communicated our strategy at our investor day, we have delivered more than we promised:  free cash flow in excess of our peers and more than $2 billion of deleveraging, the separation of our Pigments and Additives business, and significant growth in our downstream specialty and differentiated businesses. Our total shareholder return over that time has been above 150%, which is far more than Corvex has delivered to its investors.  Instead of questioning Clariant’s motivations, Clariant investors should ask why Corvex has lost billions of funds under management in recent years and returns have been poor.

“I have not met with White Tale and have no intention to do so. Their activism is all about the short-term, break-up value of Clariant and is not about Huntsman.”