A PYMNTS Company

US: DuPont Deal likely to get tough antitrust scrutiny

By  |  December 10, 2015

The Dow Chemical shares are slumping 4.2% to $54.58 on Thursday as the possible merger with chemical company Pont de Nemours is likely to receive intense scrutiny from antitrust regulators, the Wall Street Journal reports.

If the deal were to go through, it could be a merger of equals, where the combined company could separate into material sciences, specialty products and agrochemicals.

However, officials will closely examine the deal that would create a company with a market capitalization of over $130 billion. The concern is that regulators could block the merger as they have done so previously with several high-profile deals, the Journal noted.

Despite these uncertainties, analysts believe a deal “could well meet regulatory muster,” since the two companies do not directly compete in a lot of the biggest products and could exit assets in areas where they do overlap, the Journal added.

Full content: The Wall Street Journal

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.