Huntsman’s spinoff Venator trades on New York Stock Exchange

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Huntsman’s pigment spinoff, Venator Materials, traded on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The milestone came as Venator completed its initial public offering (IPO).

UK-based Venator had an IPO price of $20/share, close to where it was trading midday.

“The successful completion of this IPO is a major milestone for Venator and marks the start of a new chapter for our business,” said CEO Simon Turner.

Venator operates 47 facilities, employs 7,500 people and sells to more than 100 countries. It serves about 10,000 customers.

Venator’s pigments and additives segment will have 28 plants in 10 countries with a total capacity of 1.3m tonnes/year.

This segment produces titanium dioxide (TiO2) as well as colour pigments, functional additives, timber-treatment products and water-treatment chemicals.

The majority of the production will be TiO2, as its capacity will be 782,000 tonnes/year. This will place the spinoff among the three largest producers in the world, accounting for 11% of global capacity.

The company will also have 13 colour-pigment manufacturing and processing plants. These will make iron-oxide and other pigments.

It will have a functional additives facility in Europe. Functional additives include barium- and zinc-based inorganic chemicals used to make colours more brilliant, coatings shine, plastics more stable and protect products from fading.

The lead book-running managers for the IPO were Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, BofA Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan. Additional book-running managers were Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities, UBS Investment Bank and RBC Capital Markets.

Co-managers were Moelis & Co, HSBC, Nomura, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Academy Securities and Commerzbank.