Dow, DuPont Complete Planned Merger
Dow Chemical Co and DuPont said on Friday the companies had successfully completed their planned $130 billion merger to form DowDuPont. Shares of DuPont and Dow stopped trading at the close of Aug. 31 and will now trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "DWDP". Dow and DuPont announced the merger in December 2015. "The true value of this merger lies in the intended creation of three industry powerhouses that will define their markets," Andrew Liveris, executive chairman of DowDuPont, said in a statement on Friday. Post-merger, Dow and DuPont are expected to break up into three independent, publicly traded units.
Liveris to Retire From DowDuPont
Dow Chemical Co, which is merging with DuPont, said Chief Executive Andrew Liveris would retire as chairman of the combined DowDuPont company in July 2018. Liveris said in February 2016 he would retire by mid-2017, following a prolonged battle with hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, who had been questioning his leadership. Liveris has been slated to serve as the executive chairman of the combined DowDuPont company after deal close, expected in August. He will then serve as the chairman of the combined company between April and July 2018, Dow said on Thursday, when the company held its annual shareholder meeting.
DuPont Settles Teflon Chemical Lawsuit
DuPont and Chemours Co said on Monday they had agreed to pay about $671 million in cash to settle several lawsuits related to the leak of a toxic chemical, used to make Teflon, that has been linked to cancer and other diseases. The company said it settled about 3,550 personal injury claims arising from the leak of perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as PFOA or C-8, from DuPont's plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The leak allegedly contaminated local water supplies and has been linked to six diseases, including testicular and kidney cancers.
Third Point Adds New bets on Energy, Cuts Stake in Dow
Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point added new bets in the energy and information technology sectors with investments in Whiting Petroleum Corp., Facebook and Activision Blizzard Inc, according to regulatory filings on Friday. Third Point, which invests roughly $16 billion and is widely followed because of its years of strong returns, also made new bets on Tesoro Petroleum and Devon Energy Corp. Last month Loeb wrote to investors that savvy bets on the energy market had helped the portfolio gain 4.6 percent in the second quarter, beating the broader Standard & Poor's stock market.
Dow Chemical to Settle Price-Fixing Case
Dow Chemical Co said on Friday it has agreed to pay $835 million to settle a decade-old lawsuit brought by customers, but denied that it had conspired to artificially inflate polyurethane prices. The settlement to resolve the $1.06 billion judgment against Dow imposed in 2013, comes nearly a year after both sides abruptly backtracked from a previous agreement to resolve the case. "While Dow is settling this case, it continues to strongly believe that it was not part of any conspiracy and the judgment was fundamentally flawed as a matter of class action law," the company said in a statement on Friday.
Dow Chemical Operating Profit Rises
Dow Chemical Co reported 6.5 percent rise in quarterly operating profit as lower cost improved margins. Net income available to the company's common shareholders, excluding certain items, rose to $1.08 billion, or 93 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $992 million, or 85 cents per share, a year earlier. Net sales fell 20 percent to $11.46 billion. Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri
Dow, DuPont to Merge
Each co's shareholders to get about 50 pct of DowDuPont; DuPont CEO Breen to get top job at combined company. Chemical giants DuPont and Dow Chemical Co agreed to merge in an all-stock deal valuing the combined company at $130 billion, with plans to eventually split into three. The deal, which is likely to face intense regulatory scrutiny, allows the new company - to be called DowDuPont - to rejig assets based on the diverging fortunes of their businesses that make agriculture chemicals and plastics. Dow and DuPont have been struggling to cope with falling demand for farm chemicals due to falling crop prices and a strong dollar…
Saudi Butanol Co Starts Trial Ops at Jubail Plant
Saudi Butanol Co, a joint venture of local petrochemicals firms, has begun trials of its plant in Jubail and expects commercial operations to start in the first half of 2016. Testing will take between three and six months at the plant, a statement from Sahara Petrochemical Co said on Tuesday. The project is owned by group consisting of Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co, Sadara Chemical Co (a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Co ) and Saudi Acrylic Acid Co (SAAC). SAAC is an affiliate of Tasnee and Sahara. A statement issued in March had said testing was expected to commence in the third quarter of 2015.
Dow Chemical Beats Street on Cheap Feedstock
Dow Chemical Co reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as the company's operating margins rose for the eleventh quarter in a row, helped largely by low raw material costs at its plastics-making business. The U.S. chemical maker's plastics business has benefited from easy access to cheap shale gas, which is stripped down into ethane to make ethylene - a key component of plastics and many chemicals. Global crude oil prices have halved in the past year, narrowing the price difference between crude oil-derived naphtha and natural gas-based ethane cracking, which erased the competitive advantage U.S. chemical firms had over their European rivals.
Dow Profit Rises 45 pct as Margins Expand
Dow Chemical Co's quarterly profit jumped 45 percent, helped by higher margins in five of its six units. Net income available to shareholders rose to $1.39 billion, or $1.18 per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $964 million, or 79 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales fell nearly 15 percent to $12.37 billion. Reporting by Kanika Sikka
Exxon Building Texas Chemical Plant
Exxon Mobil Corp said on Thursday it has started construction on a new chemical plant in Baytown, Texas, and begun expanding a nearby plant, part of a plan to use shale-derived natural gas to make plastics and other material. The Baytown plant, known within the industry as a cracker, will be able to produce 1.5 million tonnes of ethylene per year. Exxon, the largest U.S. producer of natural gas, is simultaneously expanding a Mont Belvieu plant to be able to process the ethylene into polyethylene. Polyethylene, a basic plastic, is used to make bags, bottles and other common consumer goods.
