S&P cuts Dow Chemical

Standard & Poor's said it lowered the corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Dow Chemical Co. to BBB- from BBB. The A-3 commercial paper and short-term corporate credit ratings on Dow remain unchanged.

The agency also downgraded Rohm and Haas Co.'s corporate credit rating to BBB- from BBB and its commercial paper rating to A-3 from A-2, to align the ratings of Rohm and Haas with those of Dow, its new parent. Ratings of both companies remain on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The agency placed Dow's subsidiary Union Carbide Corp.'s BBB- corporate credit and senior unsecured ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The actions follow Dow's announcement that it closed the acquisition of Rohm and Haas in a transaction valued at $19 billion, including assumed debt at Rohm and Haas.

"We believe the transaction is an important strategic initiative for Dow and consistent with its efforts to bolster the breadth of its specialty product offerings, but it will meaningfully stretch the financial profile to a level beyond what we consider consistent with the former ratings," S&P analyst Kyle Loughlin said in a statement.

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