Shareholder Approval Moves DowDuPont Forward

by Sarah Day Levesque

The much-anticipated Dow-DuPont merger will now move ahead after shareholders from both companies approved the deal on Wednesday.

Approximately 18-24 months after the merger is finalized, DowDuPont plans to break into three independent, publicly-traded companies focused on agriculture, specialty science and material science. According to a joint statement, the agricultural company will be headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and will unite the Seed and Crop Protection businesses of the Dow and DuPont companies. The specialty science company will also be headquartered int Wilmington and will be comprised of DuPont’s Nutrition & Health, Industrial Biosciences, and Protective Solutions businesses along with a fourth business composed of DuPont’s Electronics & Communications business integrated with Dow’s Electronic Materials business unit. The material science company will bring Dow’s Performance Plastics, Performance Materials and Chemicals, Infrastructure Solutions, Consumer Care and Automotive Solutions (excluding the Dow Electronic Materials business) operating segments together with DuPont’s Performance Materials segment.

The creation of the new company, to be named DowDupont, is expected to reduce costs. This has already been in play as both companies have made moves to downsize their respective workforces. Prior to the announcement of the merger in December 2015, DuPont laid off thousands of workers around the globe and Dow said in June that 2,500 jobs would be lost and some plants shut down before the merger is finalized.

The deal still awaits necessary regulatory approvals but is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2016.

A DuPont spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal, “We are continuing to work with key regulatory authorities in the U.S. and around the world related to the merger in the major jurisdictions where we operate.”