DOW Dow Inc

By Valentina Pop and Natalia Drozdiak 

BRUSSELS--The European Union's antitrust authority on Thursday opened a full-blown investigation into plans by Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. to merge, prompted by concerns the deal would reduce competition in the global agricultural sector.

The European Commission said it would probe whether the deal would cut competition in areas such as crop protection, seeds and certain petrochemicals. Announced December, the proposed merger aims to create an American industry giant with a combined market capital of about $122 billion.

"The livelihood of farmers depends on access to seeds and crop protection at competitive prices. We need to make sure that the proposed merger does not lead to higher prices or less innovation for these products," said European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

In-depth antitrust probes are common for large merger proposals in Brussels and don't necessarily mean a deal will be blocked. If the EU confirms its concerns, the companies can decide to offer concessions, such as selling assets, to meet the regulator's requirements. If those aren't deemed sufficient, Brussels can block the deal.

Write to Valentina Pop at valentina.pop@wsj.com and Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 11, 2016 12:35 ET (16:35 GMT)

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