SALT LAKE CITY — Huntsman Corp. is suing Apollo Management and its two partners for fraud after the private-equity group backed out of a deal to buy the chemicals company for $6.5 billion.
Huntsman seeks a jury trial for damages exceeding $3 billion, plus additional punitive damages, in a suit filed in Texas. While Huntsman is based in Salt Lake City, it has administrative headquarters in Texas.
On Wednesday, Apollo’s Hexion unit said it no longer believes it can buy Huntsman, citing the company’s financial deterioration.
Huntsman alleges Apollo falsely represented its commitment to the deal in order to get the company to terminate a buyout agreement with Dutch manufacturer Basell AF. Huntsman plans to contest the allegations made about its financial performance.
To win Huntsman, Apollo bid $27.25 a share — $2 higher than Basell — and then raised it to $28.
But in court papers filed in a court in Conroe, Texas, Huntsman said it believes Apollo never intended to allow Hexion to pay that much for the company.
