The Justice Department review of the merger of Dow and DuPont is “pretty far down the road” and the arrival of Donald Trump as president is unlikely to affect the transaction, said DuPont chief executive Ed Breen in a Reuters interview. “I don’t think it will have any impact,” said Breen, who noted the review is being handled by career civil servants.
Trump was critical of some large mergers during the campaign, such as AT&T’s proposal to buy Time Warner, so the business sector is watching for indications of how the Justice Department will view mergers in the future. The $130-billion Dow-DuPont merger was proposed a year ago. The EU has set Feb. 28 for deciding whether to approve the deal.
Asked if the companies might be required to shed some operations in order to win U.S. antitrust approval, Breen told Reuters there might be “some remedies on the agriculture side and that’s predominantly it.” And he said, “There are always buyers available for good assets.”