US: Dow-Dupont merger wins conditional clearance

The merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont, two of the world’s largest chemical companies, cleared a major hurdle on Thursday after the companies reached a proposed settlement with US antitrust regulators to address competitive concerns.

The proposed settlement over the agreed $142bn deal would resolve a lawsuit that was filed publicly on Thursday, in which the US Justice Department said it was concerned about the impact of the merger on competition in the market for crop-protection chemicals, as well as two chemical products used to make flexible food packaging, among other industrial applications.

Approval is conditioned on the divestiture of some assets, including parts of DuPont’s crop-protection portfolio and Dow’s global ethylene acrylic acid copolymers and ionomers business. The companies said in a joint statement on June 15 that those commitments are consistent with measures undertaken to secure EU approval, and that they will not have to make any additional divestitures under the US settlement.

The merger was first agreed to in 2015, after both companies faced pressure from activist investors.

Full Content: The Financial Times

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