DuPont trading assets with FMC for EU approval of Dow merger

March 31 (UPI) -- DuPont on Friday said it would trade assets with FMC Corporation in an attempt to win the European Commission's approval for its merger with the Dow Chemical Company.

DuPont also delayed the closing of its $130 billion merger, anticipating the deal will close between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1. In the asset trade, DuPont will sell a portion of its crop protection business to acquire nearly all of FMC's health and nutrition business.

The DuPont-Dow merger needs approval from regulators in Europe, Brazil, China Australia, Canada and the United States. The European Commission previously voiced concerns that the merger of DuPont and Dow -- the two largest and oldest U.S. chemical producers -- would leave little incentives to produce new herbicides and pesticides.

After the merger, DuPont and Dow executives want the company split off into three independent publicly traded companies. DuPont and Dow said they expect the spinoff to occur within 18 months of the merger closing.

"Today's announced transaction enables us to satisfy the European Commission's approval conditions, while maintaining the strategic logic and value creation potential of our merger and the three independent companies we intend to create," Edward D. Breen, chairman and chief executive officer of DuPont, said in a statement.