DowDupont (NYSE: DWDP) which was formed when chemical giants Dow Chemical and DuPont merged earlier this month, said on Tuesday it was making changes to its initial plans of how it would split up the company post merger.
The company now plans to move businesses totaling more than $8 billion in annual sales from its materials science division to the specialty-chemical unit.
The materials science division will account for more heritage Dow businesses and retain the Dow brand.
Dow and DuPont's plan has been to split into agriculture, specialty chemicals and materials units after their $130-billion merger.
Tuesday's announcement comes in the wake of intense shareholder pressure asking for a change in the way DowDuPont — worth about $157 billion — was split.
Under the new plan the company will shift its water, automotive systems, pharma & food and some other businesses from the material science division to the specialty products division, DowDuPont said on Tuesday.
Executive Chairman Andrew Liveris commented, "Our DowDuPont Board is fully aligned and confident that these targeted portfolio adjustments are the right actions to take and will benefit all stakeholders over the long term.
"They bear out the clear results of a significant comprehensive analysis the Dow and DuPont boards undertook over the past many months, which benefited from a fresh look provided by independent, third-party external advisors.”
Shares in the combined company went for $68.07, an improvement of $1.22, or 1.8%, from Monday’s close and within a narrow range of $64.01 to $67.30 since the merger.
