Antitrust officials in the European Union plan to take more time to consider potential competition issues that may be caused by the $59 billion merger between Dow Chemical Company and DuPont.
Dow’s CEO tells Bloomberg the merger will be delayed until February or March.
The European Commission is reportedly delaying its decision until the New Year so it can seek additional information on the proposed merger between the two companies.
The regulators’ greatest concern, according to Dow’s Andrew Liveris, is agriculture. He tells Bloomberg the agricultural sector is critical to European regulators and somewhat protected.
Dow and DuPont shareholders unanimously approved the merger in June.
At the time, officials said they hoped the deal would be closed by the end of the year.
If allowed to merge, the company will be named DowDuPont and split into three independent, publicly traded companies.
Dow officials said at the time, they hope the separation will occur 18-24 months after the closing of the merger.
The three separate companies would include: an agricultural company, a material science company and a technology and innovation-driven specialty products company.
The agricultural company would unite DuPont and Dow’s seed and crop protection businesses.
The material science company will include DuPont’s performance materials segment, Dow’s performance plastics, performance materials and chemicals, infrastructure solutions and consumer solutions. It would exclude the Dow electronic materials business.
The specialty product company is slated to include DuPont’s nutrition and health, industrial biosciences, safety and protection and electronics and communication, as well as the Dow electronic materials business.
Following the merger and separation, Liveris will become executive chairman of the newly formed DowDuPont board of directors and Edward D. Breen, chair and CEO of DuPont, will become chief executive officer of DowDuPont.
In DuPont’s third quarter earnings statement, Breen said the company continues to work with regulators to close the merger.
He expects the merger to close in the first quarter of 2017.
DowDuPont will be headquartered in both Midland, Michigan and Wilmington, Delaware.