As they move toward their $130 million mega merger, forecast to take place by the end of this year, DuPont and Dow Chemical have announced Wilmington, Delaware, USA, as the headquarters of their $18 billion agriculture company, one of three specialist firms to result from a planned split to follow the merger.

Along with being located at DuPont’s traditional home base, the agriculture firm will feature DuPont in its name, the companies said.

The choice announced on Feb. 19 caps weeks of lobbying by various locations where parts of the partners’ operations are already located.

Sites at Johnston, Iowa, and Indianapolis, Indiana – where much of DuPont's and Dow's seed and crop protectant businesses are based and where local officials had jockeyed to land the agricultural headquarters – have been designated as global business centers. These will house the management of the future company’s business lines, business support functions, R&D, global supply chain and sales and marketing organizations.

State and local governments in Iowa have promised $17.2 million in incentives to keep DuPont seeds arm Pioneer with its 2,600 jobs in Johnston. The state’s Economic Development Authority also is said to have offered a $2 million loan and $14 million in tax credits if 500 R&D jobs are kept in the Des Moines area. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. reportedly is discussing job-related incentive packages.

Reflecting the “deep presence” in Iowa and Indiana of DuPont’s agricultural operations, CEO Edward Breen said the merged company will retain “close ties” to the customer base, while leveraging the existing corporate infrastructure and expertise available at Wilmington, DuPont’s home for more than 200 years.

Reports said that, although the headquarters designation carries prestige, the corporate functions there will be leaner than at the business centers.

Wilmington also will be home to two of the three companies to be created, including the specialty chemicals business. Dow’s corporate headquarters at Midland, Michigan, will retain the plastics-dominated material sciences company, the future partners previously confirmed.

The double choice of Wilmington is regarded as sweetening the pill of the already announced 1,700 layoffs as part of DuPont’s $700 million cost-cutting scheme ahead of the merger with Dow.

As part of an incentive package to locate the merged company’s headquarters, the state of Delaware has pledged income tax rebates for workers earning more than $70,000 a year, along with $6 million in construction capital expenditure grants and $3.6 million “to support employment.”

The state has also agreed to increase its research tax breaks and provide support for R&D even in years in which the company pays no income tax.