Huntsman Corporation HUN
The three reasons
- 1
A decade of missed EBITDA targets: 2014, 2016 and 2018 Investor Day aspirations all unmet
- 2
Stock has underperformed chemical index by 330% and S&P 500 by 337% since 2005 IPO
- 3
Board is disenfranchising shareholders: abridged nomination window, refused Universal Proxy Card
Primary demands
- Elect Starboard's slate of four director nominees (Gallogly, Lin, Schnabel, Smith) at the 2022 Annual Meeting
- Refresh the Board with independent, shareholder-aligned directors unburdened by past loyalties
- Adopt a Universal Proxy Card for the contested election
- Hold management accountable for chronic EBITDA under-delivery and restore credibility on financial targets
- Transform Huntsman into a best-in-class differentiated chemicals manufacturer
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Where this document fits across the library's 12 rhetorical / structural patterns.
Notable slides (6)
Notes
Schedule 13D/A (Amendment No. 1) filed as Exhibit 1 to a DFAN14A proxy solicitation filing. Primary argument lives in Exhibit 99.1 — a ~3-page letter from Jeffrey Smith to Chairman/CEO Peter R. Huntsman (dated Jan 12, 2022) followed by 2 pages of nominee bios with headshots. The body of the document (pp. 1-44) is standard SEC 13D boilerplate: reporting-person tables, ownership percentages, purchase history, Joint Filing & Solicitation Agreement (Ex. 99.2), indemnification and compensation letters for the non-Smith nominees at $25k + $25k (Ex. 99.3 / 99.4), and powers of attorney (Ex. 99.5). Narrative pattern is a classic broken-promises argument — cites three successive Investor Days (2014, 2016, 2018) where aspirational EBITDA targets were missed, culminating in the '330%/337% underperformance' shareholder-pain statistic. Governance grievances (abridged nomination window, refusal of Universal Proxy Card, reactive board refreshment) are framed as evidence that Board is actively disenfranchising shareholders. No charts, no sum-of-parts, no target price. Visual production is minimal — Starboard logo on the letter header and nominee photographs are the only graphical elements. Thesis type blend leans governance + operational turnaround; not a breakup story. Peer set (Celanese, Dow, Eastman) is named only in a footnote as Huntsman's self-identified 2014/2016 Investor Day peers. Campaign context: this Amendment No. 1 is the escalation step that announces nominations; the original 13D presumably disclosed the initial stake. Good example for study of a 'text-only' activist escalation — proxy-fight playbook without the slide deck.