Dow Chemical To Buy Rohm And Haas Unit For $1 Billion

ByBridgeNews Dow Chemical Co. is buying Rohm and Haas Co.'s agricultural chemicals business in a $1 billion deal that will boost sales at Dow AgroSciences by nearly one-third. Dow AgroSciences will obtain Rohm & Haas' well-recognized fungicide, insecticide, and herbicides lines, as well as licenses to use Rohm & Haas' biotechnology assets for agricultural products. "Those product lines complement and enhance Dow AgroSciences' portfolio by adding high-performance brand name products for specialty crops, as well as turf and ornamental businesses around the world," says A. Charles Fischer, Dow AgroSciences's chief executive officer. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. The agricultural products business, which had sales of $531 million in 2000, will boost Dow AgroSciences' sales to about $3 billion, Dow said. Dow AgroSciences now has annual sales of $2.3 billion.