Dow Chemical, DuPont Get Conditional Approval From China For Proposed Merger

(RTTNews) - DuPont (DD) and The Dow Chemical Co.(DOW) said that China's Ministry of Commerce has granted conditional regulatory approval of their proposed merger of equals.

MOFCOM's approval is conditional on DuPont and Dow fulfilling commitments given to MOFCOM in connection with the clearance.

Specifically, and consistent with commitments already made to obtain the European Commission's regulatory approval for the proposed merger of equals, Dow and DuPont will divest certain parts of DuPont's crop protection portfolio and research and development pipeline and organization and Dow's global Ethylene Acrylic Acid copolymers and ionomers business.

In addition, Dow and DuPont have made commitments related to the supply and distribution in China of certain herbicide and insecticide ingredients and formulations for rice crops for five years after the closing of the proposed merger of equals.

On March 27, the European Commission conditionally approved the merger. The companies reaffirm their expectation for closing of the merger to occur between August 1, 2017 and September 1, 2017, with the intended spin-offs to occur within 18 months of closing. The companies expect that the first step of the intended separation process will be the spin-off of the Materials Science Company, assuming such sequencing would allow for the completion of all intended spin-offs within 18 months of merger closing and would not adversely impact the value of the intended spin-offs.