Eastman Chemical Co. entered into an accelerated share repurchase agreement with Wells Fargo, NA and Mizuho Markets Americas LLC to repurchase $500 million of Eastman’s common stock. With the execution of the ASR, Eastman will have made significant progress towards its target of repurchasing greater than $1 billion of shares in 2022, with approximately $750 million completed in the second quarter.
ASR repurchases will be under the remainder of the February 2018 $2 billion board of directors share repurchase authorization as well as the December 2021 board $2.5 billion share repurchase authorization. Upon completion of the ASR, Eastman will have authorization to repurchase another approximately $2.12 billion of shares.
Senior vice president and chief financial officer Willie McLain says, “This accelerated share repurchase demonstrates our confidence in our company’s market value and our commitment to continue delivering value to our stockholders through share repurchases.”
Eastman expects approximately 80 percent of the share repurchases under the ASR agreement—3.8 million shares—on May 9, 2022, based on the company’s closing price of $105.67 on May 5, 2022. The ASR repurchases are expected to be completed by third quarter 2022, with the total number of repurchased shares based on Eastman’s volume-weighted average price during the term of the agreement, less a discount.
