The proposed merger between Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) and E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD) ran into another snag on Thursday when European regulators suspended their review of the deal. This marks the second time regulators have stopped the clock on deal.
The European Commission (EC) had an original deadline of December 20, 2016, to reach a decision on the proposed merger, but a September delay pushed the decision date out to February 6, 2017.
This latest delay is the result of the companies not providing “an important piece of information” requested by the EC, according to a report from Bloomberg. Once the information is provided, the clock will begin running again and the EC’s decision deadline will be adjusted again to take account of this delay.
Shareholders of the two companies have already approved the $59 billion merger. U.S. regulators are still examining the merger, as are regulators in China and elsewhere.
EC competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in August:
The livelihood of farmers depends on access to seeds and crop protection at competitive prices. We need to make sure that the proposed merger does not lead to higher prices or less innovation for these products.
The impact on stock prices for Dow and DuPont has been slight. Dow’s stock traded down about 0.2% late Friday morning, at $53.14 in a 52-week range of $40.26 to $57.10. DuPont shares also traded down about 0.2%, at $68.37 in a 52-week range of $50.71 to $75.72.
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