Colombes, France and Midland, MI - August 03, 2009
Arkema and The Dow Chemical Company have entered into an agreement for Dow to meet FTC required divestitures related to its acquisition of Rohm and Haas Company. This comes ahead of the November 27 deadline.
Arkema will buy a Clear Lake, Texas, acrylic acid and esters plant and the UCAR Emulsion Systems specialty latex businesses in North America for a fair value consideration of U.S. $50 million¹.
The proceeds from the sale are accretive to Dow's shareholders and will be used for further de-leveraging.
The selection of Arkema as the buyer must be approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the two companies will be shortly reviewing the proposed transaction with FTC authorities. It’s expected to close in the 4th quarter of 2009.
“Arkema is today taking another very important step in its history and its growth and development strategy. This acquisition is fully in line with our commitment to develop our best product lines and boost our downstream integration,” states Thierry Le Hénaff, the Arkema Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
“The FTC order for our acquisition of Rohm and Haas required minimal divestitures,” said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow chairman and chief executive officer. “Today's transaction, which comes well ahead of the November 27th deadline, is the major step in fulfilling our obligations to the Commission. And, after a full auction, we are pleased that the transaction realizes fair value, will result in further de-leveraging of our balance sheet, and is accretive to shareholders.”
About Arkema
Arkema which already operates a world-scale acrylic monomer production site, in France (Carling, Moselle) and a second site in the United States (Bayport, Texas), will strengthen its positions in the acrylics market where main applications include paints and coatings, superabsorbents, water treatment, paper and textile. Through its subsidiary Coatex, Arkema also produces acrylic polymers used as dispersants and thickeners for the paper and paint industries, mineral processing, construction, cosmetics and textile, on two sites in Europe (Genay, France, and Moerdijk, the Netherlands), and one in the United States (Chester, South Carolina). Arkema also recently announced the construction of a new plant for the production of specialty acrylic polymers in Changshu, China.
A global chemical company and France’s leading chemicals producer, Arkema consists of three businesses: Vinyl Products, Industrial Chemicals, and Performance Products. Arkema reports sales of 5.6 billion euros. Arkema has 15,000 employees in over 40 countries and six research centers located in France, the United States and Japan. With internationally recognized brands, Arkema holds leadership positions in its principal markets.
About Dow
¹ 2009 estimated revenue for these businesses is approximately U.S. $450 million.
For Editorial Information:
Bob Plishka
The Dow Chemical Company
+1 989 638 2288
Frédéric Gauvard
Arkema
+33 1 49 00 82 53
frederic.gauvard@arkema.com
Sophie Fouillat
Arkema
+33 1 49 00 86 37
sophie.fouillat@arkema.com
Gilles Galinier
Arkema
+33 1 49 00 70 07
gilles.galinier@arkema.com
