Dow, Rohm & Haas settle disagreement over merger

Dow Chemical and Rohm & Haas settled their disagreement over their already-agreed merger, with Dow saying it will honor the agreement at $78 a share, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday afternoon. The deal is to close on April 1, the Journal said. The chemical firms have been embroiled in a dispute regarding a $15.3 billion merger that was announced last July, but which Dow said in January it wouldn’t be able to complete due to troubles with financing and concerns about the weak economy. In particular, the Kuwaiti government pulled out of a joint-venture deal with Dow that was supposed to help with the financing. On Friday, the companies announced that they were in discussions regarding the merger and the pending litigation, but declined to comment further. They were due in court Monday, but had asked for extra time to try to settle the case.