When Dow Chemical acquired Rohm and Haas for $15bn last year the giant chemical company agreed to sell off Morton Salt to ease the debt burden that stemmed from the deal.
Dow and K+S now expect the sale of Morton Salt to close within the next few days, following FTC acceptance of a consent decree agreed to by K+S.
Sale requirements
To receive the go-ahead for the sale K+S sold bulk de-icing salt assets in Maine and Connecticut. The company said the effect of these divestments was minimal and that the net impact of the Morton Salt acquisition is that K+S is now the largest salt producer in the world.
Morton Salt manufactures a wide range of salt products for applications ranging from food to swimming pool cleaners, but the core of its business is in food. The company sells finished food products including table salts, flavoured salts and spices but also produces salt for use in food processing.
Dow deal
Now that FTC has given its seal of approval for the Morton Salt purchase, Dow will be able to start paying off the debts it has built up in the wake of the Rohm and Haas acquisition.
Dow said it will use the $1.68bn in gross proceeds from the sale of Morton Salt to fully pay off the balance of a bridge loan it used to partially fund its acquisition of Rohm and Haas.