Dow Chemical Gets OK to Dump Morton Salt

MIDLAND, Mich. (TheStreet) -- Dow Chemical's(DOW Quote) yard sale continues. The company received regulatory approval to sell Morton Salt to Germany's K+S Aktiengesellschaft for $1.68 billion as it moves to raise money to pay back debt incurred by its controversial acquisition of Rohm & Haas earlier this year.

The Morton deal, cleared by the Federal Trade Commission Monday, will likely close within the next few days, Dow said in a press release. Approval was conditioned on K+S pruning Morton plants in Connecticut and Maine that make de-icing salts.

The companies first announced the Morton deal on April 1, the same day the Rohm & Haas combination closed. Dow said it will use the $1.68 billion in proceeds from the salt sale to pay back a short-term loan that it used to help pay for Rohm & Haas.

Dow has made a series of aggressive moves, from asset sales to thousands of layoffs, in order to swallow Rohm & Haas. The company already sold its interest in a Malaysian chemical joint venture for $660 million, for instance, and has grouped some of its latex, rubber and plastics businesses into one division in preparation for its sale, which could bring in as much as $2 billion, according to Dow's CEO.

Dow had wanted to scuttle the Rohm agreement, struck before the financial crisis bloomed last fall, but eventually gave in after a legal battle. There were other problems as well. Dow had hoped to use some $9 billion proceeds from a joint venture with a Kuwaiti company, but negotiations fell apart last December.

-- Written by Scott Eden in New York

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