DuPont and Dow Chemical near merger

[Lodestar]

Source: Wall St. Journal

Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. are in advanced talks to merge, in a tie-up that would cap off the strongest year ever for takeovers and come amid a surge of deal activity in the agriculture industry.

The chemical giants, which each has a market capitalization of about $60 billion, could announce a merger in coming days, people familiar with the matter said. It would be followed by a three-way breakup of the combined company, they said, a common approach to mergers and acquisitions of late.

//p//

It would create a giant with more than $90 billion in combined sales and strong positions in everything from plastics to industrial chemicals and agriculture.



Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dupont-and-dow-chemical-near-merger-wsj-2015-12-08?mod=MW_story_top_stories

---

W H A T ????????? WHERE THE HELL ARE THE ANTI-TRUST LAWS?!

[rpannier]

1. Republicans and our Libertarian Overlords in the Dem Party

Do not see a problem with these mergers
They'll gladly tell you how they are beneficial

[Lodestar]

2. "Any antitrust issues could be overcome with modest divestitures"

Story in Bloomberg about this merger (excerpt):

Any antitrust issues could be overcome with modest divestitures, according to Ahmed. The Wall Street Journal reported that Dow’s Liveris is expected to be executive chairman of the merged company while DuPont CEO Ed Breen would retain that title. Making Breen CEO would fit well with his strength in breaking up companies, as he did at Tyco International Ltd., Ahmed said.

Based on the market values of Dow and DuPont, a merger would probably rank among the five largest deals announced this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The volume of mergers and acquisitions in 2015 is already headed for a record, the data show.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-09/dow-chemical-dupont-said-to-be-in-late-stage-merger-talks

-----------

Here's the one in the Wall St. Journal (excerpt):

Even if the two sides manage to agree, there is no guarantee antitrust regulators would bless the union or that the breakup plan would address any such concerns. The merger would combine two top suppliers of industrial and agricultural chemicals and crop seeds.

Should it come to fruition, a combination of the companies, each more than a century old, would be one of the biggest in a year marked by big deals. So far, companies have struck some $4.35 trillion of takeovers in 2015, eclipsing 2007 as the top year on record for deals, according to Dealogic.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/dow-chemical-and-dupont-are-in-advanced-talks-to-merge-1449621799

[DJ13]

3. DowPont?

DuPow?

K&R in either case.

[Lodestar]

4. Are mergers also indicative of a potential economic crash?

If, as stated in the above WSJ article that 2007 was the last 'big merger'
year and of course 2008 was the big crash.....just sayin'.

[DJ13]

5. I could see that being true

As the market gets more over valued the big financial houses work extra hard to squeeze every last cent they can get before something happens.

They did that with mortgages, and the debt instruments underwriting them in 07, they did it with tech stocks in 2000 as well.

It fits their business model.

[longship]

6. Into the same alchemical caldron. nt

[JDPriestly]

7. Good question. Where are the anti-trust laws.

This is not a good development. Not good at all.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. This is nuts

Dow had already absorbed Rohm & Haas just 6 years ago... Interesting article (written by the former Rohm & Haas CEO) about that - https://hbr.org/2010/11/how-i-did-it-rohm-and-haass-former-ceo-on-pulling-off-a-sweet-deal-in-a-down-market

[Feeling the Bern]

10. Cornering the market on cancer. How nice of them? Ummm, why does this seem like the roaring 20s?

[LiberalEsto]

11. Why don't they add Monsanto and call it Great Satan? nt

[packman]

12. Someday, maybe not to soon it appears

There will be one mega-corporation controlling and making everything in our lives.