China Conditionally Clears Merger Plan Between Dow Chemical and Dupont

China has approved a planned merger between Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. with conditions involving the divestment of certain products and commitments to supply Chinese with their products.

As parts of the conditions, DuPont must divest its business related to rice-crop insecticide ingredients, and Dow Chemical must divest its global Ethylene Acrylic Acid copolymers and ionomers business, the commerce ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

In addition, the two must supply Chinese companies with certain herbicide products for rice crops over the five years after the completion of the proposed merger, at prices no higher than the average of the previous 12 months, the ministry said.

The two companies reaffirmed their goal of completing the merger between August 1, 2017 and September 1, 2017, according to a joint statement released on the website of Dow Chemical Tuesday. The promised spin-offs will occur within 18 months of the closing of the deal, they said.

The merger plan gained conditional approval from the European Union in March but is still awaiting nods from other regulators, including the U.S.'s.

-- Write to Liyan Qi at liyan.qi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 02, 2017 22:26 ET (02:26 GMT)