Hexion’s weak quarterly results are going to hurt the chemical company and its private equity owner in more ways than one.

It could take away the punch in their argument against Huntsman, the company that they once wanted to buy.

Hexion and its parent Apollo Management agreed to buy Huntsman for $6.5 billion a year ago, but the deal has been in jeopardy since June, when Apollo and Hexion filed suit against Huntsman seeking to limit their liability in the event that their proposed buyout falls apart.

Apollo Management and Hexion are hinging their argument on an exit clause, which could allow them to walk away from the deal if Huntsman’s business suffers a materially adverse change.

They were quick to point out a month ago that Huntsman’s 19 percent decline in second-quarter operating profit was proof it had.

Now, Hexion has posted a 30 percent decline in operating profits, after excluding a merger related write-off.

Given that the two are in the same industry, it’s raising the question of who has really suffered a material adverse change: Hexion or Huntsman?

Hexion’s results could severely weaken their argument as the so-called MAC clause is typically invoked if a company has been hurt disproportionally to its peers, and Huntsman in this case has actually done better.

The case goes to trial next month, and this might mean Hexion and its parent may have some sleepless nights ahead.

The last thing most companies want is to associate themselves with is a psychopathic killer.

That goes double for nuclear power producers, so Entergy Corp’s “No Country for Old Men” themed analyst meeting on Friday came as quite a surprise.

The presentation of the company’s first-quarter earnings was built around references to the Oscar-winning movie, with the introduction and forward looking statements disclaimer read out in movie trailer fashion, and the slides strewn with quotes from the movie’s characters.

“It’s a movie about the choices that we make, the rules that we follow in life, the consequences of those choices and those rules and being accountable for the choices that we make for the rest of our lives,” said Chief Executive Wayne Leonard, on a webcast.

[Editor’s note: We thought it was about nihilism and the banality of evil.]

“When I came to Entergy in 1998, we’d made some bad choices, one of the questions was how long are we going to have to live and be accountable for the choices that were made in the past,” Leonard added.

It’s not like Entergy found a satchel filled with $2 million in drug money and was hunted down by a remorseless killer with a Prince Valiant haircut. But its foreign investments haven’t turned out so well. The company has since sold its assets overseas and has proposed a spin-off of its non-utility nuclear assets in a bid to capitalize on rising power prices.

The spin-off is facing more challenges due to the tight credit markets and opposition from New York’s Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. During the presentation, Entergy listed a range of options it might adopt in order to arrange the financing required for the spin-off.

Looks like the movie’s tagline rings true — “There Are No Clean Getaways.”

(Click here to view the presentation)

Photo: Richard Foreman, courtesy of Miramax Films