Monday, January 12, 2009

Connections (with apologies to James Burke)

Dow had been planning a joint venture with Kuwait to be called K-Dow. (Kinda like F-Fed, I guess. And that makes me J-Spev!) Now all of the sudden, the Kuwaiti's are pulling out, most likely due to the significant drop in oil prices. But the story doesn't end there. Dow was anticipating some cash from their partners to close the deal, and had already promised that cash to their purchase of Rohm and Haas. So now that deal is in jeopardy as well. The R & H deal always seemed a little pricey to me, so I doubt that they could find another partner if that falls through. To the R & H stockholders, the cheap price of oil has suddenly gotten more expensive.

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