Dow to Reduce Equity Base in Kuwaiti Joint Ventures

Portfolio Decisions Aligned to Delivering Additional Shareholder Value

HOUSTON--()--In line with The Dow Chemical Company’s (NYSE:DOW) prior announcement of its intention to rationalize its investments in certain joint ventures, Dow will reconfigure and reduce its equity base in the MEGlobal and Greater EQUATE joint ventures, including The Kuwait Olefins Company (TKOC) and The Kuwait Styrene Company (TKSC), through a divestment of a portion of the Company’s interests in these well-established ventures. Dow expects such transaction(s) to be completed by mid-2015. While Dow will retain a substantial stake in these long-term partnerships, this effort will open opportunities for new investment in these successful and growing enterprises. Dow remains committed to maximizing the overall value of both MEGlobal and the Greater EQUATE joint ventures to further enhance their already demonstrated strong value and performance.

“We have been reviewing every aspect of our joint venture portfolio through our best-owner mindset, with the primary objective of identifying opportunities to deliver further value to our shareholders,” said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer. “As a result of that analysis, we plan to reduce our equity position in MEGlobal and Equate. This strategic action allows us to redeploy capital to more strategic purposes, while still maintaining our commitment to these industry-leading joint ventures, which will continue to be an integral component of our strategy to be low-cost and integrated in key products.”

MEGlobal is a world leader in the manufacture and marketing of monoethylene glycol and diethylene glycol (EG), and is headquartered in Dubai, UAE. Established in July 2004, MEGlobal currently markets over 2.5 million metric tons of EG per year globally. EG is used as a raw material in the manufacture of polyester fibers (clothing and other textiles), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins, antifreeze formulations and other industrial products. MEGlobal is a joint venture between Dow and Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) of Kuwait.

Established in 1995, EQUATE is the operator of an integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing more than 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products, including polyethylene, ethylene, and EG, that are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe. Formed in 2004, The Kuwait Olefins Company (TKOC) is an international joint venture among Dow, Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). EQUATE is the single operator of Greater EQUATE, which includes TKOC, TKSC, and Kuwait Paraxylene Production Company (KPPC) under one fully integrated operational umbrella at Kuwait’s Shuaiba Industrial Area.

About Dow

Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company is driving innovations that extract value from the intersection of chemical, physical and biological sciences to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, clean energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's integrated, market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 180 countries and in high growth sectors such as packaging, electronics, water, coatings and agriculture. In 2013, Dow had annual sales of more than $57 billion and employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 6,000 products are manufactured at 201 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

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Contacts

Dow
Rebecca Bentley, +1 (989) 638-8568
rmbentley@dow.com
Rachelle Schikorra, +1 (989) 638-4090
ryschikorra@dow.com

Contacts

Dow
Rebecca Bentley, +1 (989) 638-8568
rmbentley@dow.com
Rachelle Schikorra, +1 (989) 638-4090
ryschikorra@dow.com