Dow Chemical to buy Rohm and Haas
TEXT OF STORY
Scott Jagow: Just yesterday, I talked about sovereign wealth funds and whether there’s anything dangerous about foreign governments investing in American companies. Lo and behold this morning, we have this: The Kuwaiti wealth fund is sinking big money into a U.S. corporate deal. Warren Buffett is also investing. The deal involves two well-known chemical companies. Alisa Roth has more on it.
Alisa Roth: Dow Chemical is paying more than $15 billion for Rohm and Haas. That’s a 74 percent premium over yesterday’s closing price.
Andrew Liveris is Dow’s CEO. He’s calling the deal “game-changing:”
Andrew Liveris: We’ve had our eye on Rohm and Haas for quite a while now. It’s a well-known and much sought-after player in the specialty chemical space. And we believe that Rohm and Haas is our ideal match.
Rohm and Haas makes coatings, electronics materials and other specialty products. It’ll continue to operate under its own name.
Liveris hopes getting into the specialty chemicals business can protect Dow from some of the volatility of the chemical market. Both companies have been struggling this year. Rohm and Haas recently announced it was laying off 6 percent of its workforce. Dow has said its cutting production of some products.
The boards of both have approved the deal. Rohm and Haas shareholders and regulatory officials still have to sign off on it.
In New York, I’m Alisa Roth for Marketplace.
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