From Bloomberg:

Dow Chemical, DuPont Said to Be in Late-Stage Merger Talks

Jeffrey McCracken

December 8, 2015 — 5:50 PM PST Updated on December 8, 2015

Deal would be followed by breakup into two or three businesses

Dow Chemical Co. is in late-stage talks to merge with DuPont Co. in what would be the largest deal in the chemicals industry, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The transaction would combine two of the most storied names in U.S. industry and create the world’s second-biggest chemical company behind BASF SE as well as the largest seed and pesticide company, surpassing Monsanto Co. …

DuPont and Dow, which have market capitalizations of $58.4 billion and $59 billion respectively, have in recent months confirmed they were weighing options for their agricultural-chemicals businesses, both of which supply genetically modified seeds. …

The split following a Dow-DuPont merger would probably involve creating a company focused on agricultural products such as crop seeds and pesticides, another focused on specialty chemicals and a third that makes plastics and other commodities, said Hassan Ahmed, a New York-based analyst at Alembic Global Advisors. Each would find cost savings in the combination and have improved scale, he said.

“I think it’s a brilliant move” Ahmed said by phone Tuesday. “In one clean sweep you get three outstanding companies.”