US chemical giant DuPont said Friday it will sell some of its pesticide business to FMC to clear the regulatory hurdles to the merger with Dow Chemical.
However, the companies pushed back the closing date of their mega-merger.
DuPont will divest part of its crop protection business to FMC to comply with a ruling by the European Commission earlier this week clearing its $130 billion merger with Dow on the condition it unload "major parts" of its global pesticides business due to antitrust concerns. In exchange, DuPont will receive the health and nutrition business from Philadelphia-based chemical company FMC along with $1.6 billion in cash and working capital.
"This agreement with FMC is a win-win. It is pro-competitive; it advances the regulatory approval process; and it maintains the strategic logic and value creation potential of our merger with Dow," said DuPont chief executive Edward Breen in a press release.
FMC said the assets included industry-leading insecticides which are expected to generate over $1 billion in 2017 revenue, as well as a pipeline of products now under development and a network of manufacturing plants.