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Show DAILY HERALD Tuesday. September 14. 2004 Huntsman Continued from Al Tax The move to sell shares has been expected since chief executive officer Peter Huntsman assumed control of the company in 2000. i hanes. propylene and poh The markets for those product! have improved in recent months, analysts said. Huntsman is "just the latest of a continued string of companies accessingthe capital markets, which they havent really had access to for some time because the industrial economy, until the last year, has been relatively weak, said John Roberts, senior vice president . and chemical equities analyst for Buckingham Research in New York. "A rising tide floats allships." Huntsman spokesman Don Oisen refused to elaborate on the announcement, citing rules that prohibit public comment , leading to an IPO. The company's statement did not say how much money k hoped to raise with the offering. "With this announcement, we are officially in the quiet period," Olsen said. Huntsman LLC the nation's fourth largest chemical company joins privately-helmaker Nalco, an Illinois-base- d of chemical products and filters that recently announced plans for an IPO. Houston-baseWest lake Chemical Corporation began trading in August. . The Huntsman group has battled heavy debt in recent years, pegged at $5.8 billion by a filing with the Securities Exchange legislation to increase transportation funding, White said he doesn't want to raise taxes for Utah County taxpayers. "What I wanted all along was state legislators to commit to doing what needed to be done for the transportation problem," he said. Commissioner Gary Herbert said he would support moving the proposal to the 2005 election. If commissioners vote to. take the proposal off the 2004 ballot this morning, it will be just in time. The ballots will be printed this week, but there's enough time to change them, By comparison, competitor Dew Chemical had sales of $33 billion. The move to sell shares has been expected since chki executive officer Peter Huntsman assumed control of the company in 2000, and members of the elder Huntsman's large family have reportedly been pressuring the founder to take the company public to avoid bankruptcy. Huntsman's son, Jon Huntsman Jr., is Utah's Republican candidate for governor. Hill said Utah County Kim Jackson. The printer is typesetting and proofing the ballots now. "We're under a tight window here," he said. Putting the issue on the ballot in 2005 will be better, said state Rep. John DougalL The state Legislature's Transportation Planning Task Force will be ready to make funding recommendations to the Legislature later this year. "(2005) is the better of the years, so we can better dovetail with actions of the Legislature and the new governor," he said. If the issue goes to the ballot next year, there could be more money for a voter education Clerk-Audit- Continued from Al $9.5 billion in revenues in 2003. A3 . unavailable. To change that, the associa- tion would have to open a comment period, and then get it ratified by the regional planning committee, which meets on the first Thursday each month. "There's no way we could fund an education program," Nelson said. White said association Exec 30-d- . I Amie Rose can be 0 reached at or aroseheraldextra.com. 344-253- 3JfW&S When: Complete Energy Efficient Natural Gas Furnace ocessing port whatever derision they made, but the funds were not available. Cook is out of the country until October. "(The association) did not adjust their plan as (Cook) indicated they would in supporting us and helping us," White said. "And because that didn't happen, there were three strikes against me. I couldn't raise enough money to do the job with all that opposition. And being a political realist, there's no point in putting it on the ballot if we're going to lose." mm AlbVitvlfatlllkvnl d water-pr- utive Director Darrell Cook told commissioners on Aug. 31 that the association would sup- campaign. The Mountainland Association of Governments had money budgeted for an education campaign, but the campaign was planned to include transit, said Dan Nelson, director of regional planning for the association. When the county dropped the transit component from the proposal, it made those funds MR (5W d Where: INSTALLED Commission. Jon Huntsman, 67, was ranked earlier this year by Forbes Magazine as 205th on a worldwide list of billionaires . with $2.5 billion. JHis umbrella of companies gained fame in the 1970s for inventing the clamshell foam container for the Big Mac hamburger. Huntsman was a bargain hunter who grew his chemical conglomerate by buying out troubled companies, but as his holdings grew, so did his debt as Huntsman was unable to raise enough revenue from operations in an economic downturn to pay off the loans. The Huntsman group had nj r $ m i mi 1J Seer Central Air Complete 12 i m mm co c m Entertainment: Conditioning mm m INSTALLED kfrf" Hemline and CookPltiductt Service I SEilIIl13u) ...,..!wd --'- 4 I . Appliance Repair installation m Local ntm WHRft. 8 24 HOUR SERVICE ZZ I I Wabtylmd (SKenGarff. A Automotive Group . PaihkiHcrati) I I I mran lnJITH CUSTOMER APPRECIATION SAVINGS K PLUS, TAKE ANOTHER mm OFF m v WHEN YOU OPEN A am ,f MEIER & FRANK ACCOUNT V A TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO OPEN CHARGE WITH US AND YOU'LL GET AN EXTRA 15 OFF ALL" YOUR FIRST DAY PURCHASES PLUS YOUR EXTRA 15 OFF " BONUS SAVINGS. WaMri, Uadro, Kate Spada, Mm Wang. Scooters, Rfntw. E l l(Xl' t I AVAILABLE AT ALL STORES inn iinrnminmiiii i t. 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