Huntsman to close U.K. plant

Huntsman, the world's largest privately owned chemical maker, will close a plant in the United Kingdom and cut 320 jobs throughout Europe as part of a previously announced plan to reduce costs.

Salt Lake-based Huntsman will close a surfactants plant and eliminate 70 jobs in Whitehaven, U.K., the company said in an Oct. 29 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Another 125 jobs will be cut in Warley and Oldbury, U.K., and a combined 125 will be lost at plants in St. Mihiel, France; Barcelona, Spain; and Castiglione and Patricia, Italy, spokesman Don Olsen said.

Restructuring of the European surfactants business is part of the company's year-old effort to shed $200 million in costs, Olsen said.

Huntsman said Sept. 13 it plans to sell shares to the public to reduce $5.8 billion of debt accumulated through acquisitions.

"We believe these actions will enable us to continue to meet our business objectives and our customers' needs," Daniele Ferrari, vice president of European performance products, said in an e-mailed statement Monday.

About $51 million in fourth-quarter expenses will be related to closing the Whitehaven plant, including $20 million in cash costs for severance, demolition and other expenses, the company said in the filing. About $17 million of severance costs were incurred in the third quarter for reorganization of the European surfactants business, Huntsman said in the filing.

Surfactants are added to liquids, including detergents, paints and inks, to improve mixing and spreading.

The company's 2003 revenue of $9.25 billion ranked fourth behind Dow Chemical Co., the biggest U.S. chemical maker, DuPont Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp. Huntsman employs about 15,000.

Copyright C 2004 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.