Antitrust Lawyer Blog Commentary on Current Developments

FTC NEEDS MORE TIME TO REVIEW MERGER

On January 26, 2008 Hexion Specialty Chemicals announced that both it and Huntsman Corporation agreed to allow additional time for the Federal Trade Commission to review the proposed merger of the two companies. As a result, the merger is not expected to close before May 3. To accommodate the extension, Hexion also gave notice to Huntsman that on April 5, it plans to exercise its option and extend the Termination Date under the Merger Agreement for 90 days, and thus, if the conditions to Hexion’s extension right are met on April 5, the termination date under the Merger Agreement will be extended until July 4, 2008.

Hexion announced on July 12, 2007, that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Huntsman Corporation in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $10.6 billion, including the assumption of debt. The transaction was approved by Huntsman shareholders on October 16, 2007 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval in the U.S. and several other countries.

Robert Doyle
(202) 589-1834
rdoyle@dbmlawgroup.com

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