DuPont remains confident the Dow merger will go through with the companies shedding some businesses.
DuPont spokesman Dan Turner issued the following statement:
“Dow and DuPont continue to engage constructively with the European Commission and other regulators in all relevant jurisdictions to obtain clearance for the merger, which we are confident will be achieved. As part of this process, we have submitted a remedy package to the European Commission that maintains the strategic logic and value creation potential of the transaction for all stakeholders. The remedies include proposed divestment of a portion of DuPont’s crop protection business and associated research and development, as well as Dow’s acid copolymers and ionomers business.
Turner continued, “As a result of the remedy submission, the European Commission deadline for review has been extended until April 4. The companies continue to expect the merger to close in the first half of 2017 with the intended spins to occur about 18 months after closing.”
The statement was released as stories in Philly.com and other media outlets focused on businesses that might need to be sold off to meet the demands of regulators.
Philly.com published a message to DuPont employees from an internal newsletter that mirrored the statements, with DuPont CEO Ed Breen adding the following:
“As we move forward in our discussions with the EC and other regulators, we expect there will be speculative media reports about the remedies. We encourage you not to let these media reports become a distraction.”
Within 18 to 24 months of approval of the merger, the combined companies would be split into three separate publicly traded corporations.
The key component of the merger, the combined Dow-DuPont agricultural business, will be based in Delaware, with two other collections of businesses based in Delaware and Dow’s hometown of Midland, MI.
The businesses based in Delaware would include Dow’s worldwide semiconductor polishing business, formerly known as Rodel. Rodel was founded in Newark.
European regulators have been studying the Dow-DuPont merger, which comes during a period of consolidation in the agriculture business. A Chinese national chemical company acquiring Swiss-based Syngenta and German chemical giant Bayer is snapping up U.S.-based Monsanto.
