On their quest to tie the knot, Dow and DuPont have been slogging through regulatory approvals around the globe. So far, the $130 billion deal has won approval in China, Brazil, the European Union, India, and now, the U.S.
The only major country left that needs to bless the merger is Canada.
According to Bloomberg BNA, the regulatory review process in Canada is confidential, so there is no public information on what is happening in those proceedings. But so far, approval from every other country has involved some divestitures and accommodations.
On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department announced that it will approve the deal as long as the companies sell off certain herbicide and chemical units. According to Reuters, DuPont plans to sell its Finesse herbicide for winter wheat and Rynaxypyr insecticides. The Justice Department said those units have yearly sales around $100 million.
Dow has been asked to divest its acid copolymers and ionomers companies.
Meanwhile in India, the companies have been asked by the country’s antitrust watchdog asked for “remedies” related to local market for grape fungicides, the sac funghi Ascomycota, as well as the market for “low graft” maleic-anhydride (MAH) grafted polymers.
When China granted its approval in May, the country asked that the companies divest DuPont’s R&D department and assets related to pesticides and herbicides used in rice, such as metsulfuron-methyl, azimsulfuron, cyantraniliprole and chlorantraniliprole and indoxacarb.
Canada’s antitrust department only gives public statements once a month but did confirm that it is reviewing the deal.
