Dow and Rohm merger far from typical according to analyst

    Dow Chemical wrapped up its acquisition of Philadelphia-based Rohm and Haas this week. The Michigan-based company promised to maintain a strong presence in the city, and in July agreed to give Rohm and Haas executives two spots on the Board. Dow has not done that. The Dow deal with Rohm and Haas has been many things, but not typical.

    Dow Chemical wrapped up its acquisition of Philadelphia-based Rohm & Haas this week. The Michigan-based company promised to maintain a strong presence in the city, and in July agreed to give Rohm & Haas executives two spots on the Board.  Dow has not done that. The Dow deal with Rohm and Haas has been many things, but not typical.

    Transcript:
    The merger grew tense when the Dow Chemical Company asked for more time when the economy went south.  Rohm & Haas took the issue to court and eventually forced Dow to finalize the deal.

    Robert Field is a professor at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. He says the merger has been unusual because of the litigation, and Dow’s unsuccessful attempt to back out.

    Field: “There’s a lot of reasons why they’ve taken this step of excluding Rohm & Haas officials from their Board.  Part of it is undoubtedly animosity over the lawsuit, part of it is to keep Rohm & Haas from having too much of a continuing say in the operations of the company.”

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    Field says Dow is focused on integrating the core chemical business of Rohm & Haas. Products that can be used in electronics and paints. And when it rains, it pours, as Dow unloaded one of the more profitable units of Rohm & Haas – Morton Salt.

    Listen:
    Click on the play button below or right click on this link and choose “Save Link As” to download. [audio: reports20090403merger.mp3]

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