How will Pioneer Fare after Dow-DuPont Merger Closes Thursday?

With Dow-DuPont’s $150 billion merger closing Thursday, Donnelle Eller and Kevin Hardy of Des Moines Register report the newly combined business’s first spin-off could be the agribusiness formed by Johnston, IA-based seed giant Pioneer and Indianapolis’ Dow AgroSciences, experts say.

“It makes sense, from my view, that agriculture” could be the focus of the first company formed, said Seth Goldstein, an analyst at Morningstar in Chicago.

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Here’s why: Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont, which initially proposed creating three independent, publicly traded spin-offs — agribusiness, material science and specialty products — are facing intense investor pressure to create more, smaller companies.

“There’s less debate about what would fall into ag and what doesn’t,” said Matt Arnold, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis. “For the most part, that should be pretty straightforward.”

Dow and DuPont have yet to say which company will first leave the nest.

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They’ve hired McKinsey & Co. to help the temporary holding company, which will be called DowDuPont, reassess how to divide the business holdings.

Read more at DesMoinesRegister.com.

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