Dow Picks Two Units For Disposal

Detailing plans unveiled in December, Dow Chemical says it expects to reap nearly $1.5 billion in after-tax proceeds from the divestiture of noncore businesses over the next 18 months. Two businesses now being actively marketed for divestment are the company’s plastics additives unit and its polypropylene technology licensing business, which markets the Unipol polypropylene process and sells catalysts. In December, Dow said that it would divest businesses with $1 billion in revenues over the next two years; at the time it didn’t disclose which businesses would be put on the block.