Rohm Haas Shareholders Approve Dow Buyout

Rohm Haas Co. (ROH) shareholders have approved its merger with Dow Chemical Co. (DOW).

The companies continue to project a close in early 2009.

It will be noted again that the European Commission has not yet started its formal review of this transaction and that a draft notification has been in front of the EC since September 1. Due to the continued delays in this review process, it must be assumed that the companies and regulator are in very advanced discussions regarding remedies necessary to obtain EC consent. I

It remains anticipated that the companies will ultimately obtain conditional approvals from the FTC and EC, and both will probably occur before the end of February 2009. However, it must be stated once again that this is a tentative project and one or both of these reviews could easily slip into the second quarter of next year due to the magnitude and complexity of this potential combination.

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