Huntsman Corporation HUN
Huntsman has misled shareholders for 15 years — missed EBITDA targets, destroyed Textile Effects, fire-sold Venator — while a legacy board shielded management; elect Starboard's nominees.
Thesis
Starboard argues Huntsman Corporation has repeatedly misled shareholders about operating performance and portfolio transformation since its 2005 IPO, and a legacy board interlocked with CEO Peter Huntsman has enabled it. The deck documents that Huntsman missed its 2016 Investor Day EBITDA target by 11%, failed every 2018 Investor Day commitment (including the ~$60-per-share goal), destroyed the Textile Effects business acquired in 2006 (EBITDA only returned to its 2005 starting level 16 years later), and fire-sold its 53% Venator stake for $140 million after promising ~$1 billion. The Board waived its 75-year retirement policy three consecutive years to keep Nolan Archibald and M. Anthony Burns entrenched, and only rushed a sham refreshment under Starboard pressure. This supplemental deck rebuts Huntsman's February 28 defense point-by-point and asks shareholders to elect Starboard's independent nominees at the 2022 annual meeting.
SCQA
Huntsman Corporation is a ~$9bn diversified chemicals company operating polyurethanes, performance products, advanced materials, and textile effects since its 2005 IPO, run by CEO Peter Huntsman and an entrenched, interlocked legacy board.
Management has missed every Investor Day commitment since 2006 — EBITDA targets, share price, Venator monetization — while the Board waived its own 75-year retirement policy three consecutive years to protect legacy directors.
Elect Starboard's slate of independent, experienced director nominees at the 2022 annual meeting to replace entrenched legacy directors and hold management accountable for repeated broken promises.
Close the 500-900bps EBITDA margin deficit versus peers and recover chronic TSR underperformance; Starboard's GCP playbook delivered a 57% post-vote TSR and a 39%-premium sale to Saint-Gobain.
The three reasons
- 1
Huntsman missed every investor-day target since 2006 — EBITDA, share price, Venator monetization
- 2
Board waived its 75-year retirement rule three years straight to keep legacy directors
- 3
Huntsman trails chemical peers by 500-900bps EBITDA margin and has lagged TSR since IPO
Primary demands
- Elect Starboard's independent director nominees at the 2022 annual meeting
- Replace entrenched legacy directors (Archibald, Burns) protected by repeated waivers of the 75-year mandatory retirement policy
- Hold management accountable for 15+ years of missed Investor Day commitments
- Refresh the Board with directors who have real public-company oversight experience
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Precedents cited
- GCP Applied Technologies (Starboard majority slate, 2020 → sale to Saint-Gobain at 39% premium, 2021)
- Corteva (Starboard chemicals investment, three independent directors appointed, 2021)
Slide gallery ·
Notes
Supplemental proxy-fight materials (DFAN14A) dated March 2022, explicitly framed as companion to Starboard's 2022-02-28 investor presentation and as point-by-point rebuttal to Huntsman management's recent investor deck. Rhetorical spine is a repeating 'The Truth vs. Huntsman's Misleading Tactics → CHANGE IS NECESSARY' two-column motif that closes each of the six numbered sections (Failed Shareholder Commitments, Poor Capital Allocation / Textile Effects, Governance and Compensation, Financial Underperformance, Share Price Underperformance, Starboard's Past Investments). Heavy use of highlighted verbatim Peter Huntsman and Kimo Esplin CEO/CFO quotes from 2006, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 to expose broken promises. Stake % not disclosed in this particular document (Starboard filed 13D September 2021 per page 57). No sum-of-parts or explicit target price — this is a governance/accountability deck, not a valuation deck. Visual template is Starboard-standard institutional blue/red with underline-emphasis typography; dense but readable.