Brussels: The European Union has approved the proposed merger of Dow Chemical and Du Pont, saying that the companies' commitments to divest businesses have addressed its concerns.
Both plan to join in a $62 billion deal and then break apart into three separate, publicly traded companies. The companies would focus on agriculture, material science, and the production and sale of specialty products.
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said Monday that the bloc's conditional approval ensures that the merger "does not reduce price competition for existing pesticides or innovation for safer and better products in the future."
Dow and DuPont said in February they were willing to divest more business to address concerns. The EU says they will sell DuPont pesticide businesses and "almost the entirety of DuPont's global R&D organization."
