ADM to acquire rights to Dow Chemical's industrial ethanol business

Nov. 1, 2002
Agriprocessing giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) said it will acquire the interest of Union Chemical Co. (UCC) in World Ethanol, a joint venture of ADM and UCC, effective Jan. 1, 2005.

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Nov. 1 -- Agriprocessing giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) said it will acquire the interest of Union Chemical Co. (UCC) in World Ethanol, a joint venture of ADM and UCC, effective Jan. 1, 2005.

UCC, a wholly owned unit of Dow Chemical Co., will continue marketing industrial ethanol through the JV during a 2-year period. During this timeframe, the JV will convert existing UCC customers to fermentation ethanol made at facilities owned by ADM in Peoria, Ill., and Clinton, Iowa. At the end of the 2 years, Dow's UCC unit will then exit the industrial ethanol business, it said.

Dow's exit decision, which was reached "after a lengthy and thorough internal assessment," fits strategically with the company's goal to focus its efforts on businesses that have "the greatest integration," said Pat Gottschalk, global business director for Dow's solvents and intermediates.