Dow-DuPont Into Home Stretch With Canada, Mexico Clearance

Dow Chemical Co.'s proposed $74 billion merger with DuPont Co. has garnered another two important antitrust clearances and heads into July on track for an August closing date, the companies confirmed by email June 28. Mexico’s antitrust authority and Canada’s Competition Bureau both cleared the deal with conditions on June 27, meaning that all of North America has cleared the merger.The merger is one of a trio of mega-deals that would reshape the global agrochemicals industry and the second deal to approach the finish line. China National Chemical Corp. announced completion of its second $43 billion tender offer for Syngenta AG on June 7, acquiring about 95 percent of Syngenta’s shares.Bayer AG’s bid to buy Monsanto Co. for $66 billion is a distant third in the race to gain antitrust clearance, having not yet filed for review by the European Union.If cleared, the three transactions would consolidate the industry into four major players, including BASF SE. The same companies are also the world’s largest producers of seeds.