Australia Won’t Oppose DowDuPont

Australia's regulatory authority has taken DowDuPont a step closer to becoming reality with the announcement that it will not oppose a merger of the two US chemical giants Dow and DuPont.

In a statement issued late last week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the divestments mandated by authorities in other countries have removed any threat to competition in Australia

ACCC had said previously it had concerns the proposed merger could “substantially lessen competition in the supply of certain insecticides and material science products and reduce competitive tension in research and development of new crop protection products.”

At the time, the competition authority had expressed concern that “Dow and DuPont may be the only suppliers or potential suppliers of ionomer and acid co-polymer materials to plastics manufacturers in Australia, and the merger would remove competition between them.”

ACCC also said it would look at the two groups’ existing overlap in a large number of agrochemical product areas, such as insecticides for chewing and sucking pests as well as studying the merger’s effect on canola seed innovation.

In announcing that the authority was dropping its opposition, its commissioner, Mick Keogh, said ACCC had worked closely with the European Commission, the US Department of Justice, the Canadian Competition Bureau and the New Zealand Commerce Commission in assessing the merger.

"As the remedies provided to other regulators have resolved competition concerns in Australia, the ACCC has taken a pragmatic approach and not sought standalone remedies in Australia," he said. Dow AgroSciences employs around 230 people in Australia and 115 in New Zealand.

ACCC said it is currently undertaking similar reviews of competition questions for the proposed Bayer-Monsanto deal.