Just days after financier Carl S. Icahn and Icahn Partners indicated they intend to buy 2-9% of the company, Kerr-McGee Corp. on Wednesday said it has hired an investment bank to consider selling its chemicals business.

Kerr-McGee is the world’s third-largest producer and marketer of titanium dioxide pigment, which comprises more than 85% of its chemicals assets.

In an interim first quarter update, Rick Buterbaugh, vice president for investor relations, said the company has hired an investment bank, which he did not name, to review the company’s “options” for its chemicals business. Kerr-McGee has raised its 1Q forecast for the chemical unit’s operating profit by about 20% to $25-27 million.

Icahn and Icahn Partners posted notice late last week that they would seek to acquire up to $1 billion in Kerr-McGee stock (see Daily GPI, Feb. 23).

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