DowDuPont Approves Materials Science Split

DowDuPont’s board of directors has approved the separation of its Materials Science division, which will become the new Dow on Apr. 1.

Shareolders in DowDuPont will receive one share of Dow common stock for every three shares of DowDuPont common stock owned on Apr. 1, the distribution date.

Dow will become an independent, publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange on or about Mar. 20. The company said it planned to buy back $3 billion of stock after the split.

Edward Breen, DowDuPont’s CEO, called the approval a major milestone toward successfully separating the businesses going to Dow. This will be followed by splitting the agriculture division, Corteva Agriscience, from the new DuPont on Jun. 1.

Breen commented: “We believe that each of the intended three independent companies is set to be an industry leader with the right management and capital structure to better serve customers, compete in their end markets and focus on their innovation priorities.”

Jim Fitterling, Dow’s CEO-elect and chief operating officer of the Materials Science division, added that the new Dow is a “more focused, disciplined and market-oriented” company.

In separate news, DowDuPont has appointed two more board members for Corteva Agriscience, taking the total to 11. The new directors are former Evonik CEO Klaus Engel and Rebecca Liebert, who recently became senior vice president for automotive coatings at PPG after more than a decade in leadership roles at Honeywell International.