Huntsman Corporation HUN
The three reasons
- 1
Huntsman returned just 80% since its 2005 IPO vs. 642-822% for peers, a ~562% deficit under CEO Peter Huntsman
- 2
Management failed three consecutive Investor Day commitments (2014 EBITDA, 2016 core EBITDA, 2018 $60 share price)
- 3
Family-controlled, unaccountable Board: Peter Huntsman is both CEO and Chairman and sold Venator stake for $140M after promising $1B+
Primary demands
- Elect Starboard's four independent director nominees (Gallogly, Beach Lin, Schnabel, Smith) to Huntsman's 10-person Board at the 2022 Annual Meeting
- Replace four incumbent directors Starboard deems not truly independent or conflicted (Beckerle, Ferrari, Egan, Munoz)
- Install a Board that will hold Peter Huntsman and management accountable for delivering on financial commitments
- Drive ~600bps of Adjusted EBITDA margin improvement through better commercial execution, corporate resource reallocation, and manufacturing/supply-chain streamlining
- Improve governance, executive compensation design, and ESG/TCFD disclosure practices
- Support vote on Starboard's BLUE proxy card
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Where this document fits across the library's 12 rhetorical / structural patterns.
Notable slides (12)
Notes
Definitive additional proxy filing (DFAN14A) dated Feb 28, 2022 — full proxy-fight deck ahead of Huntsman's 2022 Annual Meeting. Starboard seeks minority (4 of 10) board representation; BLUE proxy card. Nominees: James L. Gallogly (ex-LyondellBasell CEO), Sandra Beach Lin, Susan C. Schnabel, Jeffrey C. Smith (Starboard Managing Member). Deck runs 238 pages with ~170+ pages of body plus supplemental appendix from p.173. Core narrative is a devastating 'fooled shareholders three times' pattern — Starboard repeatedly returns to 2014/2016/2018 Investor Day failures to undermine management credibility, punctuated by a CEO-quote contradiction on the Venator 'fire sale' (promised $1B+, delivered $140M). Heavy use of peer-gap charts (EBITDA margin, valuation multiple, ESG rating). The operational opportunity slide (p.34) quantifies ~600bps margin uplift but does not provide a formal SOTP or target price. Campaign outcome (May 2022 AGM) ultimately: none of Starboard's nominees elected — management slate prevailed — but recording as 'unknown' per extraction-time guidance.