Carbide Is Now Part Of Dow Chemical

DANBURY (AP) – Union Carbide Corp. has now been absorbed into Dow Chemical Co. after the completion of the $9.3 billion merger.

Midland, Mich.-based Dow completed its acquisition of Union Carbide Tuesday, a day after the Federal Trade Commission told the chemical giant it would have to divest intellectual property critical to the production of plastic trash bags to gain federal approval of the $7.3 billion merger.

The FTC also said Dow would be required to divest its ethyleneamines, ethanol-amines and methyldiethan-olamine-based gas treatment business used in lubricating oil additives, personal care products, fabric softeners, herbicides and fungicides, among other products.

The 1.2-million-square-foot former Union Carbide headquarters in Danbury is now a Dow satellite business center. The center will retain five business units: licensing, water soluble polymers, organic intermediates/solvents and monomers, wire and cable and specialty polymers.

Union Carbide moved its headquarters from New York City to Danbury in 1980-81, employing about 3,000 people in Danbury.

However, starting in the mid-1980s, Carbide began selling divisions and the company began to focus on its core chemical business.

Dow will continue to operate in Midland and keep its name, while Union Carbide becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow.

A lengthy federal regulatory process had delayed the merger, which was announced in August 1999. It creates the second-largest chemical company in the United States behind DuPont.

“The merger increases Dow’s scale, breadth and depth, all of which will allow us to continue to create more value for our shareholders,” Dow president and chief executive officer Michael D. Parker said.