Dow to acquire Rohm and Haas's Ag chemicals

The Dow Chemical Company and Rohm and Haas Company announced today they have reached agreement for Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow, to purchase Rohm and Haas's Agricultural Chemicals business, including working capital, for approximately US $1 billion.

Under terms of the agreement, Dow AgroSciences will acquire Rohm and Haas's Agricultural Chemicals business, including its fungicide lines, insecticides, herbicides, other product lines, trademarks, and license to all agricultural uses of its biotechnology assets. The transaction is expected to close in second quarter 2001, subject to regulatory approvals.

The sale will result in the transfer of ownership of parts of Rohm and Haas's manufacturing sites in Jacarei, Brazil; Barranquilla, Colombia; Lauterbourg, France, and Mozzanica, Italy; all of the Nantong, China plant will transfer, as well as assets owned by Rohm and Haas in Muscatine, Iowa. The Philadelphia, PA, plant's Agricultural Chemicals operations will become a toll manufacturing site for Dow AgroSciences.

In 2000, Rohm and Haas's Ag products sales were US $531 million. With this acquisition, Dow AgroSciences' annual sales are expected to be approximately US $3 billion annually.