On December 11, DuPont and Dow announced they have agreed on a merger, valued at $130 billion. After the merger, the new company monikered “DowDuPont,” plans to split into three separate companies within 18 months to two years after the deal closes. DuPont has said it plans to cut 5,000 employees, assuming the deal is approved by regulators, stock holders and board members. The chemical giants have a variety of overlapping products, but in the countertop/surfacing field only DuPont is a player with its Corian solid surface and Zodiaq quartz surfacing products.
Interestingly DuPont’s surfacing line appears to have recently taken a hit when one of it’s largest distributors that covered 17 states, Colt Industries, announced it was parting ways with the DuPont and would no longer be distributing Corian or Zodiaq surfaces. This merger and the potential synergies or chaos, depending on whether or not the building products division is something that receives additional attention or loses focus, is another unpredictable factor tossed in. Certainly as additional details become available, this media outlet will continue to bring you information.
