Dow Chemical to purchase rival

[Dover]

Has this been reviewed for anti-trust violations?


July 10, 2008, 10:14PM
Dow Chemical to purchase rival
Company says Rohm and Haas deal will make it a force in specialty markets

(AP)DETROIT — Dow Chemical Co. has agreed to buy rival Rohm and Haas Co. for more than $15 billion in cash in a deal that Dow hopes will fuel its growth in a more lucrative wing of the chemical business.

"The addition of Rohm and Haas' portfolio is game-changing for Dow," Chairman and Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said Thursday in a statement announcing the deal.

The $78-per-share deal includes money from a Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The price represents a 74 percent premium to Philadelphia-based Rohm and Haas' closing share price of $44.83 on Wednesday. The Haas family, descendants of one of the company's founders, holds about 65 million shares, a 33 percent stake worth nearly $5.1 billion based on the purchase price.

The companies said assumed debt will boost the total transaction value to $18.8 billion.

"The word is clearly out on Wall Street that if you want capital, Warren's someone to speak with," Tom Russo, who holds Berkshire shares among the $3 billion he helps manage as a partner in Gardner, Russo & Gardner, told Bloomberg News...cont'd

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5882110.html

[Muttocracy]

1. I wonder how much of Dow's business is petroleum-based

which would include plastics.

Here's what Rohm and Haas does
http://www.rohmhaas.com/wcm/products/browse.page?

[screembloodymurder]

2. Warren is banking this at a great ROR.

He's in the capitol preservation business, but guess who gets the SEOTS.