FTC Seeks Public Comments on Dow Chemical Company Petition to Modify Final Commission Decision and Order Regarding Rohm & Haas Acquisition

The FTC is seeking public comments on a petition by Dow Chemical Company to modify a Commission consent order issued on March 31, 2009, and made final on April 9, 2009. The FTC order was issued to resolve competitive concerns raised by the merger of Dow with Rohm & Haas, and required Dow to divest a range of assets to an FTC-approved acquirer, including its acrylic monomer, hollow sphere particle, and acrylic latex polymer businesses. In the petition to reopen and modify the order, Dow has requested Commission approval to lease, rather than sell, the Torrance, California, latex polymers facility included in the divestiture package required by the FTC.

The Commission is accepting public comments on Dow’s petition for 30 days, until December 7, 2009. Written comments should be sent to: FTC Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580. To file a comment, please click on the following hyperlink: https://public.commentworks.com/ftc/C4243 and follow the instructions at that site. Copies of the petition can be found on the FTC’s Web site and as a link to this press release. (FTC File No. 081-0214, Docket No. C-4243; the staff contact is Roberta S. Baruch, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2861; see press release dated January 23, 2009, at: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/01/dow.shtm.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.

(FYI 51.2009.wpd)