The stock exchange did not grey mine so far

Norbert Steiner can laughing: chemical German which he heads, K S Group (ex-Kali und Salz), just make a nice kick. He won yesterday the auction to buy Morton Salt, the US Dow Chemical subsidiary specialized in salt (2.900 people). Five other competitors were in the ranks. Norbert Steiner had to break the piggy bank and accept debt. The transaction values Morton Salt at 1.7 billion (EUR 1.3 billion). The stock exchange did not grey mine so far. On the contrary: in Frankfurt, the K S action jumped 10,27 at the end.

That crisis requires, the price is reasonable. It is 1.4 times the turnover and 7.6 times the result of exploitation of Morton Salt. Above all, the transaction allows the German industrial increase of 80 a salt production and to thus move first in the world beyond Chinese China National Salt.

K S will have, in particular, a very strong position on the US market, where more than a century Morton brand and logo a little girl under an umbrella are famous. In the United States, it is one of the most well known brands, with McDonald's and Coca-Cola. Food salt, however, represents only a small part of the uses of Morton salt, before for the industry and the snow. In total, operation double the share of the salt in the activities of K S, to 26, thus reducing its dependence on fertilizers, a market coming back down. Another advantage: there is virtually no geographic duplicate with the current activities of K S, according to Norbert Steiner.

The Rohm & Haas transaction

The Group of Kassel, in the Land of Hesse, is the first to take advantage of the large rummage sale organized by Dow Chemical to finance the acquisition of Rohm & Haas. A huge transaction, concluded Wednesday after months of suspense. It had been decided in July 2008, at a price already high: 18.8 billion. With the deepening of the crisis and the relitigation of an industrial agreement with the Kuwait who had to Dow Chemical of the crucial funds, the operation has become even more bold. She has almost be abandoned. But the merger is finally to be sealed. It must be the number an American chemistry to increase the weight of the so-called "speciality" products in its portfolio. It is a Frenchman, Pierre Brondeau, number two of Rohm & Haas, who will lead the integration of the two structures.

A dual purpose

Dow Chemical could not obtain real discounts over the initial price. But the major shareholders of Rohm & Haas will re-injection in Dow Chemical 3 billion from the sale of their shares, the 2.5 billion announced previously. The group must now assign assets to avoid a too heavy debt. He hopes to draw $ 4 billion, $ 2.3 billion in addition to the amount collected to K S. The US competition authorities, in any event, imposed on Dow Chemical to sell several activities to avoid the creation of too dominant positions, such as acrylic acid, esters, plastic pigments or even latex.

Dow Chemical, the objective is clear: find soon a better record and the confidence of the markets. These last six months, the Group lost 68 of its value on Wall Street, a twice more marked than that of the US stock market fall.