Dow, DuPont Extend Merger Close Date
Edward Breen (left) is chief executive officer of DuPont and Andrew Liveris (right) is CEO of Dow.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe expected closing date for the proposed $130 billion merger between DuPont (NYSE: DD) and The Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) has been extended. The companies say the "outside date" on the merger agreement is now August 31 and the deal is expected to close no earlier than August 1.
The extension was made to accommodate a transaction between DuPont and Pennsylvania-based FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC). As part of the agreement, DuPont will divest a portion of its crop protection business, including certain research and development capabilities, and will acquire FMC’s health and nutrition business.
DuPont will receive a $1.6 billion consideration as part of the deal, including $1.2 billion in cash and $425 million in working capital. DuPont says divesting the crop protection business will satisfy its commitments to the European Commission, which recently gave conditional approval of the Dow merger.
"This revised agreement was necessary and a very positive outcome driven by the transaction with FM," said Dow Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris. "It is another significant milestone in our progress to complete this value-creating transaction and the subsequent intended spins as swiftly as possible and without any change to the committed synergies."
Once the Dow and DuPont merger closes, the resulting operations are expected to spin out into three independent, publicly-traded companies. That includes an $18 billion agriculture spin-off which will have a major presence at the current Dow AgroSciences facility on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Both companies expect the spin-offs to occur within 18 months of the merger closing.
The FMC deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to the closing of the Dow merger and other customary regulatory approvals.