DowDuPont will take a $4.6 billion in charges charge in preparation for the planned separation of its agriculture business, now known as Corteva Agriscience.
The non-cash impairment charges total $4.5 billion for goodwill and $100 million for other assets. Good will is the amount paid in excess of the fair market value of assets.
Corteva is the combination of Dow and DuPont agriculture businesses and was the driving force behind the merger of Dow and DuPont and the future separation into three companies. The two other companies spun off will retain the Dow and DuPont names.
Corteva is still on track to separate from DowDuPont on June 1, 2019.
DowDuPont filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation for the spin-off next year.
“This filing is another significant milestone in the process of preparing to separate Corteva Agriscience — a leading, global pure-play, agriculture company offering farmers a comprehensive and balanced portfolio of seed, crop protection and digital solutions to boost their productivity and profitability,” said James C. Collins Jr., Corteva Agriscience’s chief executive officer-elect.
“We are excited to launch a company that is uniquely positioned to drive industry-leading growth leveraging our powerful R&D engine and our new product pipeline while capitalizing on the benefits of our cost and growth synergies,” Collins stated. Our strategy is to combine our proven innovation capabilities with our unmatched customer access to provide farmers with a portfolio of products and services that optimize yield and profitability, while improving environmental sustainability. We believe our competitive strengths, including our innovation pipeline and broad portfolio of products, leadership position in key markets and strong customer relationships, will enable us to create significant value for our customers and deliver strong returns to our shareholders.”
Corteva will be headquartered in northern Delaware, but will maintain administrative and research operations at former Dow and DuPont locations in Iowa, Indiana and other areas.
