DD DuPont de Nemours Inc

   (FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 2/20/16) 
   By Jacob Bunge 

DuPont Co. and Dow Chemical Co. plan to stick by their longtime hometowns as the chemical giants combine and then split into three separate companies, resolving some uncertainty that has loomed over the giant merger for employees and local officials.

Wilmington, Del., which has been DuPont's home since its founding in 1802, will be the base for two planned companies, one handling agricultural products and the other electronic components and biosciences. Midland, Mich., Dow's home since 1897, will retain the material-sciences company, the companies said Friday.

The headquarters picks pass over Des Moines and Indianapolis, where much of DuPont's and Dow's seed and pesticide businesses are based and where elected officials had pitched to land the agricultural-company headquarters. Both cities will retain "global business centers" under the companies' merger plan, the companies said.

Dow and DuPont executives said keeping corporate bases in Michigan and Delaware was the most efficient way to run the three businesses in the future, relying on employees and infrastructure already there. The deal, which would create a company with a combined market value of about $104 billion, aims to eliminate $3 billion in combined costs before separating into three publicly traded companies within three years.

The agricultural company's name will include DuPont, while the material sciences company's name will include Dow, according to the companies.

The headquarters decision is a victory for Wilmington, where DuPont and other big employers have slashed jobs and operations in recent decades.

The merger deal raised concerns that DuPont's presence would be further reduced in the city of 72,000, and DuPont in late December announced plans to lay off 1,700 employees in Delaware as part of a plan to save $700 million before the Dow combination.

"It's welcome news because we really didn't know what was going to happen," said Richard Heffron, president of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce. "A lot of people were pessimistic."

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 20, 2016 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)

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