US: Dow-DuPont merger delayed again over $1.6bn FMC deal

Dow Chemical and DuPont pushed back the planned deadline for their combination again as the chemical makers advanced toward winning antitrust clearances by striking a $1.6 billion asset swap with pesticide maker FMC.

The $78.7 billion merger of equals will close in August, Dow and DuPont said in a statement Friday, instead of by the end of the first half of 2017. FMC surged the most in eight years after agreeing to buy DuPont crop-protection assets, which the European Union wants sold before final approval of the Dow deal. DuPont will acquire FMC’s health and nutrition business.

The FMC deal “satisfies the bulk” of the remedies needed to win consent from governments around the world, DuPont Chief Executive Officer Ed Breen said in an interview. The most recent delay in the closing of the Dow merger allows regulators at the European Commission and their global counterparts to review any antitrust implications of the FMC transaction, he said.

“This was a global remedy and the regulators all do talk with each other,” Breen said. “That is why we feel so great about the EC process.”

Full Content: Reuters

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