The DuPont Co. and Dow Chemical Co. say investors will meet July 20 to vote the venerable conglomerates out of existence and set up a new, combined Dow DuPont Co. that will then split into separate materials, farm-sales and specialty units.
In notes to investors and in manager guidelines for talking to DuPont workers, company officials urged shareholders to vote "Yes" on the proposal, noting that unrecorded votes and non-voters will be counted against the deal.
The plan, first announced last fall by long-serving Dow boss Andrew Liveris and by new DuPont CEO Edward Breen, who previously broke up Tyco International, will be ratified at simultaneous gatherings 700 miles apart:
- DuPont shareholders will assemble for the last time at 10 a.m. at DuPont headquarters, Building 730, Chestnut Run Plaza, 974 Centre Road outside Wilmington;
- Dow shareholders will meet at the same time the Dow Emlployee Development Center at the company's Midland, Michigan headquarters.
Shareholders as of June 2 are eligible to vote. Both boards have unanimously recommended the deal.
The Materials company, including most of Dow's current businesses plus DuPont's specialty-materials group, will be based at Dow headquarters in Michigan.
The Agriculture group, combining Dow and DuPont pesticide and seed operations, will have a headquarters office in Wilmington, but research and management will be concentrated in the Midwest.
The Speciality Products group, consisting of DuPont's nutrition, electronics, safety, and other mostly unrelated businesses, plus Dow's electronics group, will also be based in Wilmington. Analysts speculate some of its lines will likely be sold off.
The companies will be split and offered to public shareholders "as soon as possible" after the merger, which could take up to two years, Dow and DuPont said in a statement.