Dow Makes Strategic Moves

Dow Chemical is advancing a program to divest businesses that it does not consider core. The company has agreed to sell its Angus Chemical unit to the private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $1.215 billion. The company announced plans to sell the nitroalkane specialist last month. Additionally, Dow says it will reduce its stake in joint ventures with Petrochemical Industries Co. of Kuwait that make ethylene glycol, styrene, and polyethylene. The reduction will allow Dow to redeploy capital to more strategic businesses and allow PIC to expand in petrochemicals, the firm says. The oldest of the partnerships date back to the 1990s; Dow inherited them when it acquired Union Carbide in 2001. Dow is building a $20 billion petrochemical joint venture in neighboring Saudi Arabia with Saudi Aramco. Dow says it is on track to meet its target of generating between $4.5 billion and $6 billion in proceeds from asset sales by the middle of next year. The company now plans to increase that target to between $7 billion and $8.5 billion in divestitures by mid-2016.