Eastman Announces $500 Mln Accelerated Share Repurchase; Increases Share Repurchase By $2.5 Bln

(RTTNews) - Eastman Chemical Company (EMN) said that it has reached an accelerated share repurchase agreement with Barclays Bank and Royal Bank of Canada to repurchase $500 million of Eastman's common stock.

The accelerated share repurchase is in addition to previously planned repurchases, and the company is now targeting $1 billion of repurchases in 2021.

The company also said that its board has increased the company's share repurchase authorization by $2.5 billion.

ASR repurchases will be under the previous February 2018 $2 billion Board share repurchases authorization. Upon completion of the ASR, Eastman will have authorization to repurchase another approximately $2.85 billion of shares.

Eastman expects about 80% of the share repurchases under the ASR agreement (3.7 million shares) on December 8, 2021. The ASR repurchases are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022.