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To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (43091)	2/20/2006 5:00:35 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69174

Huntsman to Buy Ciba Textile Business (Symbol: HUN) Monday February 20, 2:32 pm ET Huntsman Agrees to Buy Textile-Coloring Business of Ciba Specialty Chemicals for About $196M DALLAS (AP) -- Huntsman Corp. said Monday it has agreed to buy the textile-coloring business of Switzerland's Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc. for about $196 million. The deal also calls for Huntsman to assume $57 million in debt and unfunded pension and other liabilities, plus up to $31 million in unspent restructuring costs. ADVERTISEMENT The final price will also be adjusted for working capital and net debt, the company said. The deal is expected to close by the third quarter. Huntsman said the division will add 30 cents per share to earnings by 2008. The Ciba textiles unit had 2005 revenues of about $1 billion, 17 percent of the company's total. It has 4,200 employees at 11 plants in eight countries and makes chemicals and dyes used in coloring finished textiles. Ciba decided to seek a buyer for the division last August and put it up for auction. The company said it would focus on making plastic additives, coatings and water and paper treatments. Ciba said it would take an after tax write-down charge of 250 million Swiss francs (about $190 million) when the deal closes due to the difference between book value and the sales price, and another 100 million to 120 million francs (about $76 million to $91 million) in additional after-tax costs relating to the deal. Salt Lake City-based Huntsman has itself been the subject of takeover reports. The company's shares rallied early this year, then fell 8 percent in one day this month when the company said it was no longer for sale. President and Chief Executive Peter R. Huntsman said his company expects global demand for textile coloring to grow, and the Ciba unit can be restructured to meet a changing market. The Ciba unit's $360 million in revenue in Asia will help Huntsman expand in the region, he added. In 2003, Huntsman bought another Ciba chemicals unit, a polymers division, which will operate sites with the newly acquired textile operation in Basel, Switzerland and Panyu, China. Shares of Huntsman have drooped since shortly after the company went public early last year, when the stock hit $30. They closed Friday at $20.54 on the New York Stock Exchange.