Huntsman's Venator Raises $454 Million in U.S. Public Offering

(Bloomberg) -- Venator Materials Plc, the paint-pigment maker owned by Huntsman Corp., raised $454 million in its initial public offering.

Huntsman sold 22.7 million shares of Venator for $20 each, at the bottom of the $20 to $22 marketed price range, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Proceeds from the sale will go to the parent company, which will hold about 79 percent of the stock after the IPO, Venator said in a regulatory filing last month.

Venator, which makes the paint ingredient titanium dioxide, was formed when Huntsman acquired Rockwood Holdings Inc.'s pigment unit for $1 billion in 2014 and combined it with its own business. At the IPO price, Venator has a market value of more than $2.1 billion, based on the 106.3 million shares to be outstanding after the offering.

After losing $352 million in 2015, Venator cut its net loss to $77 million last year on slightly lower revenue of $2.3 billion, according to its IPO filing.

Huntsman, based in The Woodlands, Texas, agreed in May to be acquired by Swiss chemical producer Clariant AG for $6.4 billion. The paint-pigment business has been volatile historically, Huntsman Chief Executive Officer Peter Huntsman said in 2015. Taking the unit public -- removing it from Huntsman's financial statements -- could help boost the value investors place on the parent's remaining businesses, he said.

The Huntsman-Clariant deal has been assailed by U.S. investors Corvex Management and 40 North Management, known collectively as White Tale Holdings, which have taken a stake in Clariant. They're working together to push the Swiss chemical company to explore alternatives to the deal.

One of Venator's biggest competitors, Chemours Co., is also a recent carve-out of a larger chemical company. Former owner DuPont Co. in 2015 spun off Chemours, whose shares have climbed more than 128 percent since then.

Venator will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VNTR. Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are leading the deal.

Chemours on Wednesday posted second-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as adjusted earnings in the pigment segment surged 74 percent on higher prices.

--With assistance from Scott Deveau and Jack Kaskey

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Barinka in New York at abarinka2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha