US: Dow Chemical and DuPont in $120 billion mega-merger talks

Dow Chemical and DuPont are expected to announce a merger by Thursday, in a deal that would be one of the biggest in the best-ever year for mergers and acquisitions.

Sources told CNBC that a potential tie-up between the storied chemicals behemoths would be structured as a merger of equals.

The expected deal, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journalon Tuesday night, would likely be followed by a breakup of the combined entity, with separate businesses created to house the agricultural, materials services and specialty products operations.

Dow and DuPont have market capitalizations of almost $59 billion each.

Should the two sides agree on a deal, it would be yet another blockbuster merger in what has already proved to be one of the most fruitful years for deal makers. More than $4 trillion worth of deals have been since struck the beginning of this year, surpassing 2007 as the busiest year for acquisitions.

Full content: The New York Times

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