DuPont CEO: Completion of Dow Merger Imminent
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowDuPont (NYSE: DD) Chief Executive Officer Ed Breen says he expects the proposed $130 billion merger with The Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) to close in the current quarter. The deal, which involves Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences LLC, was previously expected to be complete by the end of last year.
In a quarterly earnings report, which detailed performance during the fourth quarter and the full year, Breen added "2016 was an important year for DuPont as we exceeded our expectations for earnings, cost savings, operating margin expansion and free cash flow improvement. We made excellent progress on our strategic priorities in 2016 to increase shareholder value, and we will build on this groundwork as we move into 2017. We look forward to closing the merger with Dow and are continuing to have constructive discussions with regulators in key jurisdictions."
Dow, which owns Dow AgroSciences, is slated to release its quarterly and full year earnings report Thursday. If regulatory hurdles are cleared, the combined operation will be called DowDuPont and involve three independent spin-outs. One will be an $18 billion company focused on agriculture, which will include the Dow Agro campus on Indy’s north side as its Global Business Center.