Arkema To Buy Acrylates, Latex Assets From Dow

Arkema and Dow have entered into an agreement for Dow to meet FTC required divestitures, related to its acquisition of Rohm and Haas Company. Arkema will buy a Clear Lake, Texas, acrylic acid and esters plant, and the UCAR Emulsion Systems specialty latex businesses in North America for $50 million. 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 US Federal Trade Commission, and the two companies will be shortly reviewing the proposed transaction with FTC authorities. It is expected to close in the 4th quarter of 2009.

Thierry Le Henaff, chairman and chief executive officer of Arkema, said: “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.”

Andrew Liveris, chairman and chief executive officer of Dow, said: “The FTC order for our acquisition of Rohm and Haas required minimal divestitures. Today’s transaction, which comes well head 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.”