Chemical burns

23 June 2009

Deutsche and Credit Suisse had a strong defence in the US chemical maker s suit over its busted buyout by Apollo. But settling for $1.7bn when a Texas jury could have hit them up for seven times that amount is sensible. Even Huntsman shareholders seem to grudgingly agree.

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Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank agreed to pay Huntsman Corp $316m each in cash and provide a combined $1.1bn in debt to settle a lawsuit by the Salt Lake City, Utahbased chemical company.

Apollo had agreed to buy Huntsman in mid2007 and combine it with its portfolio company Hexion Specialty Chemicals. It attempted to withdraw from the deal about a year later, and eventually settled with Huntsman for $1bn.

Huntsman then sued the two banks for not providing financing for Apollo's deal, seeking $4.65bn in compensatory damages. Punitive damages could have brought the total to as much as $13bn.

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