Consideration of the The Dow–DuPont. merger has again been suspended by European Union regulators.
The announcement did not cause any ripples on Wall Street, with shares of DuPont closing up for the day on an otherwise down period for the Dow Jones Index. Shares of Dow were down slightly.
Stock indices have been going through election year jitters before Tuesday’s election.
DuPont spokesman Dan Turner issued the following statement:
“This is a standard procedural part of the European Commission’s review process. We are working closely with the European Commission to produce the documents they request in a timely manner.
Turner continued, “Dow and DuPont remain focused on closing the transaction and continue to work constructively with the European Commission and regulatory agencies in all relevant jurisdictions to secure the necessary approvals. Given current regulatory agency status, closing would be expected to occur in the first quarter of 2017, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including receipt of all regulatory approvals.”
Dow spokesperson Rachelle Schikorra issued the following: “Dow and DuPont have always expected a thorough review. Dow and DuPont remain focused on closing the transaction and continue to work constructively with the European Commission and regulatory agencies in all relevant jurisdictions to secure the necessary approvals.”
The delay might already be baked into the stock price, and investors might have been reassured by the company’s belief that the deal is still on track to be approved in the first quarter of next year.
The European Union has another merger on its plate, with the proposed hook-up of Germany’s Bayer and U.S.-based Monsanto. Before that, Swiss-based Syngenta, which operated an office in Delaware for a time, merged with a company owned by the Chinese government.
The wave of mergers has been driven by a downturn in the lucrative agriculture seeds and crop protection business.
The DuPont-Dow merger calls for the agriculture units of both companies to split off as a public company that would be based in Delaware.
Other pieces of the combined enterprise would also be split off into separate publicly traded companies, with Delaware becoming the headquarters of one of one of those companies.
U.S. regulators have not yet issued any formal objections to the merger, although a Senate hearing was held on the merger by Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
Iowa lost out on a headquarters for the agricultural company. It is believed that the bulk of administrative operations of DuPont Pioneer will remain in Iowa.
