Huntsman shares, which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, fell $1.90, or 8.3 percent, to $21.05. The decline represented the biggest one-day drop in the company's share value since its public offering a year ago.

"What we do now is concentrate on continuing to execute our business plan, which involves working to lower our debt and investing in our differentiated business," Huntsman spokesman Don Olsen said.

Huntsman is the fourth-largest U.S. chemical maker. It revealed last week that it had received an unsolicited offer to buy the company in late 2005, which led it to contact other potential suitors and ask them for competing bids.

On Sunday, however, the company announced its directors unanimously decided not to sell the company because offers submitted by potential bidders were too low. Huntsman never revealed who was interested in buying its assets, nor what they were willing to pay, but it acknowledged the rejected bids were above the February 2005 offering price of $23 a share.

The decline in Huntsman's share price on Monday reduced the company's market value by about $419 million. Huntsman has a market value of $4.64 billion.

-- Steven Oberbeck