Dow Reports Favorable IRS Private Letter Ruling For Proposed Chlor-Alkali Deal

(RTTNews) - The Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) Friday said it has received a favorable private letter ruling from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service with respect to the proposed transaction involving a significant portion of Dow's chlorine value chain and Olin Corp.

Earlier this year, Dow and Olin entered into a definitive agreement for Dow to separate its U.S. Gulf Coast Chlor-Alkali and Vinyl, Global Chlorinated Organics and Global Epoxy businesses, and then merge these businesses with Olin in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction.

The merger will result in Dow shareholders receiving at least a majority of the shares of Olin, with existing Olin shareholders owning the remaining shares.

The transaction has a tax efficient consideration of $5 billion, and a taxable equivalent value of $8 billion to Dow and Dow shareholders.

The next transaction milestone is Olin shareholder approval, and the deal is expected to close by the end of 2015.