REVERSE MORRIS TRUST TRANSACTION (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

REVERSE MORRIS TRUST TRANSACTION [Abstract]

Divestitures [Text block]

DIVESTITURES

Divestiture of the Global Sodium Borohydride Business

On January 30, 2015, the Company sold its global Sodium Borohydride business ("SBH"), part of the Performance Materials & Chemicals segment, to Vertellus Performance Chemicals LLC. The divestiture included a manufacturing facility located in Elma, Washington, as well as the associated business, inventory, customer contracts and lists, process technology, business know-how and certain intellectual property. The sale was completed for $184 million, net of working capital adjustments and costs to sell, with proceeds subject to customary post-closing adjustments.

Post-closing adjustments were finalized in the fourth quarter of 2015. In 2015, the Company recognized a pretax gain of $20 million on the sale, including post-closing adjustments of $2 million. The gain was included in "Sundry income (expense) - net" and reflected in the Performance Materials & Chemicals segment. The Company recognized an after-tax loss of $10 million on the sale, primarily due to non-deductible goodwill included with this transaction.

SBH Assets and Liabilities Divested on January 30, 2015
In millions
Inventories	$	23
Property	21
Goodwill	45
Other intangible assets	75
Total assets divested	$	164
Components of accumulated other comprehensive loss divested	$	2
Net carrying value divested	$	166

The Company evaluated the divestiture of the global Sodium Borohydride business and determined it does not represent a strategic shift that has a major effect on the Company’s operations and financial results and does not qualify as an individually significant component of the Company. As a result, this divestiture was not reported as discontinued operations.

Divestiture of ANGUS Chemical Company

On February 2, 2015, the Company sold ANGUS Chemical Company (“ANGUS”), part of the Performance Materials & Chemicals segment, to Golden Gate Capital. The divestiture included the business headquarters and research and development facility in Buffalo Grove, Illinois; manufacturing facilities located in Sterlington, Louisiana, and Ibbenbueren, Germany; a packaging facility in Niagara Falls, New York; as well as the associated business, inventory, customer contracts, process technology, business know-how and certain intellectual property. The sale was completed for $1.151 billion, net of working capital adjustments, costs to sell and other transaction expenses, with proceeds subject to customary post-closing adjustments. The proceeds included a $10 million note receivable included in "Noncurrent receivables" in the consolidated balance sheets.

Post-closing adjustments were finalized in the fourth quarter of 2015. In 2015, the Company recognized a pretax gain of $682 million on the sale, including post-closing adjustments of $12 million. The gain was included in "Sundry income (expense) - net" and reflected in the Performance Materials & Chemicals segment.

ANGUS Assets and Liabilities Divested on February 2, 2015
In millions
Current assets	$	124
Property	101
Goodwill	292
Deferred charges and other assets	8
Total assets divested	$	525
Current liabilities	$	17
Other noncurrent liabilities	37
Total liabilities divested	$	54
Components of accumulated other comprehensive loss divested	$	10
Net carrying value divested	$	481

The Company evaluated the divestiture of the ANGUS Chemical Company and determined it does not represent a strategic shift that has a major effect on the Company’s operations and financial results and does not qualify as an individually significant component of the Company. As a result, this divestiture was not reported as discontinued operations.

Divestiture of the AgroFresh Business

On July 31, 2015, the Company sold its AgroFresh business, part of the Agricultural Sciences segment, to Boulevard Acquisition Corp., which was subsequently renamed AgroFresh Solutions, Inc. (“AFSI”). The divestiture included trade receivables, inventory, property, customer lists, trademarks and certain intellectual property. The sale was completed for $859 million, net of working capital adjustments, costs to sell and other transaction expenses, with proceeds subject to customary post-closing adjustments. The proceeds included a $635 million cash payment; 17.5 million common shares of AFSI, which represents a 35 percent equity interest, valued at $210 million based on the closing stock price on July 31, 2015, and included in “Investment in nonconsolidated affiliates” in the consolidated balance sheets; and, a receivable for six million warrants to purchase common shares of AFSI, which was valued at $14 million and classified as “Accounts and notes receivable - other” in the consolidated balance sheets. The warrants will be received by the Company within nine months from the closing date. The Company is also eligible to receive contingent consideration of $50 million, subject to certain performance conditions. In addition, the Company has a tax receivable agreement with AFSI, where AFSI is obligated to share with Dow potential tax savings associated with the purchase of the AgroFresh business. The Company has not recognized either of these potential future payments as proceeds. See Notes 9 and 20 for further information on the Company’s equity interest and variable interests in AFSI.

In 2015, the Company recognized a pretax gain of $626 million on the sale, including post-closing adjustments of $2 million, of which $128 million relates to the Company's retained equity interest in AFSI. The pretax gain was included in "Sundry income (expense) - net" and reflected in the Agricultural Sciences segment.

AgroFresh Assets and Liabilities Divested on July 31, 2015
In millions
Current assets	$	40
Inventories	18
Property	5
Goodwill	101
Other intangible assets	82
Deferred charges and other assets	1
Total assets divested	$	247
Current liabilities	$	8
Other noncurrent obligations	4
Total liabilities divested	$	12
Net carrying value divested	$	235

The Company evaluated the divestiture of the AgroFresh business and determined it does not represent a strategic shift that has a major effect on the Company’s operations and financial results and does not qualify as an individually significant component of the Company. As a result, this divestiture was not reported as discontinued operations.

Divestiture of Investment in MEGlobal

On December 23, 2015, the Company completed the sale of its ownership interest in MEGlobal, a nonconsolidated affiliate, to EQUATE Petrochemical Company K.S.C. ("EQUATE"). The Company received pretax proceeds of $1,472 million, net of costs to sell and other transaction expenses. The Company eliminated 42.5 percent of the gain on the sale (equivalent to Dow's ownership interest in EQUATE), or $555 million. The Company recorded a pretax gain of $723 million on the sale, which is included in “Sundry income (expense) – net” in the consolidated statements of income and reflected in Performance Materials & Chemicals. The Company recognized an after-tax gain of $589 million on the sale. See Note 9 for further information on the Company’s equity interest in EQUATE.

Divestiture of Ownership Interest in Dow Kokam LLC

On November 22, 2013, the Company sold its 67.4 percent ownership interest in Dow Kokam LLC ("Dow Kokam") to MBP Investors, LLC. The Company recorded a pretax gain of $26 million on the sale, included in "Sundry income (expense) - net" in the consolidated statements of income and reflected in Corporate.

As a condition of the sale, Dow acquired the third party lenders’ interest in Dow Kokam’s $75 million note, which is included in "Payments on long-term debt" in the consolidated statements of cash flows, and received a $75 million note from Dow Kokam. At December 31, 2015, $15 million (zero at December 31, 2014) was classified as "Accounts and notes receivable - other" and $46 million ($61 million at December 31, 2014) was classified as "Noncurrent receivables" in the consolidated balance sheets. The note receivable is due to be paid in full by October 31, 2018. Payments received on the note receivable are included in "Proceeds from sales of property, businesses and consolidated companies, net of cash divested" in the consolidated statements of cash flows.

Divestiture of Polypropylene Licensing and Catalysts Business

On December 2, 2013, the Company sold its global Polypropylene Licensing and Catalysts business to W. R. Grace & Co. for $490 million, net of working capital adjustments and costs to sell, with proceeds subject to customary post-closing adjustments which were finalized in the fourth quarter of 2014. The carrying value of the net assets divested was $39 million. The Company recorded a $451 million pretax gain on the sale, included in "Sundry income (expense) - net" in the consolidated statements of income and reflected in Performance Plastics. The Company recorded an after-tax gain of $356 million on the sale.

Post-closing adjustments were finalized in the fourth quarter of 2014 and the Company recorded a pretax gain of $5 million ($3 million after tax) for the post-closing adjustments. The gain was included in "Sundry income (expense) - net" in the consolidated statements of income and reflected in Performance Plastics.

On October 5, 2015, (i) the Company completed the transfer of its U.S. Gulf Coast Chlor-Alkali and Vinyl, Global Chlorinated Organics and Global Epoxy businesses ("chlorine value chain") into a new company ("Splitco"), (ii) participating Dow shareholders tendered, and the Company accepted, Dow shares for Splitco shares in a public exchange offer, and (iii) Splitco merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of Olin Corporation ("Olin") in a tax-efficient Reverse Morris Trust transaction (collectively, the “Transaction”). The Transaction was subject to Olin shareholder approval, customary regulatory approvals, tax authority rulings including a favorable private letter ruling from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service which confirms the Transaction to be substantially free of U.S. federal income tax, and expiration of the public exchange offer. Dow does not have an ownership interest in Olin as a result of the Transaction.

Under the terms of a debt exchange offer, Dow received $1,220 million principal amount of new debt instruments from Splitco,which were subsequently transferred to certain investment banks in a non-cash fair value exchange for $1,154 million principal amount of the Company’s outstanding debt instruments owned by such investment banks. As a result of this debt exchange offer and related transactions, the Company retired $1,161 million of certain notes and recognized a $68 million loss on the early extinguishment of debt, included in "Sundry income (expense) - net" in the consolidated statements of income as a component of the pretax gain on the Transaction and reflected in Corporate. See Note 17 for additional information on the early extinguishment of debt.

Dow shareholders who elected to participate in the public exchange offer tendered 34.1 million shares of Dow common stock in exchange for 100 million shares of Splitco. Following the merger of Splitco with Olin, each share of Splitco common stock was automatically converted to the right to receive 0.87482759 shares of Olin common stock, or 87.5 million shares, which represented approximately 52.7 percent of Olin’s common stock outstanding. As a result of this non-cash share exchange offer, the Company recorded an increase of $1,523 million in “Treasury stock at cost” in the consolidated balance sheets, which is valued based on Dow’s opening stock price on October 5, 2015. The Company’s outstanding shares were reduced by 3 percent as a result of the Transaction.

Under the terms of the Transaction, Dow received cash proceeds of $875 million in the form of a one-time special payment from Splitco from proceeds received from a term loan and included in "Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt" in the consolidated statements of cash flows. The Company also received a $434 million advance payment from Olin, included in "Other assets and liabilities" in the consolidated statements of cash flows, related to a long-term ethylene supply agreement, of which $16 million was classified as "Accrued and other current liabilities" and $418 million was classified as "Other noncurrent obligations" in the consolidated balance sheets at the time of receipt. The Transaction also resulted in numerous long-term supply, service and purchase agreements between Dow and Olin.

In connection with the Transaction, the Company purchased Mitsui & Co. Texas Chlor-Alkali Inc.’s (“Mitsui”) 50 percent equity interest in a membrane chlor-alkali joint venture (“JV Entity”), which resulted in Dow becoming the sole equity owner of the JV Entity. The Company purchased Mitsui's equity interest for $133 million, which resulted in a loss of $25 million included in "Sundry income (expense) - net" in the consolidated statements of income and included as component of the pretax gain on the Transaction. The JV Entity was included in the transfer of the chlorine value chain to Splitco. See Note 20 for further information on the acquisition of Mitsui’s equity interest in the JV Entity.

The Company also transferred $439 million of net unfunded defined pension benefit and other postretirement benefit obligations in the United States and Germany to Olin. See Note 18 for further details.

The following table presents the major classes of assets and liabilities divested in the Transaction, by operating segment:

Dow Chlorine Value Chain Assets and Liabilities Divested
In millions	Performance Materials & Chemicals		Performance Plastics		Corporate			Total
Accounts and notes receivable - trade	$	269	$	—	$	(6	)	$	263
Inventories	297		34		7			338
Other current assets	5		6		100			111
Net property	1,268		205		58			1,531
Goodwill	71		—		—			71
Other noncurrent assets	9		1		34			44
Total assets divested	$	1,919	$	246	$	193		$	2,358
Long-term debt due within one year (1)	$	—	$	—	$	51		$	51
Other current liabilities	99		17		—			116
Long-Term Debt (1)	—		—		518			518
Deferred income tax liabilities - noncurrent	—		—		265			265
Pension and other postretirement benefits - noncurrent	—		—		439			439
Total liabilities divested	$	99	$	17	$	1,273		$	1,389
Components of accumulated other comprehensive loss divested	$	—	$	—	$	(215	)	$	(215	)
Net carrying value divested	$	1,820	$	229	$	(865	)	$	1,184

(1) Excludes $1,161 million included as part of the debt exchange offer and $875 million from a term loan entered into under the terms of the Transaction. See Note 17 for additional information.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, the Company completed the split-off of the chlorine value chain for $3,510 million, net of working capital adjustments and costs to sell, with proceeds subject to post-closing adjustments. The proceeds included cash received from Splitco in the form of a one-time special payment from proceeds received from a term loan, the principal amount of the Splitco debt included in the debt exchange offer and the market value of the Dow common shares tendered in the public exchange offer. The Company recognized a pretax gain of $2,233 million on the Transaction, which is the excess of the sum of the net proceeds received over the chlorine value chain's net book value, a loss on the early extinguishment of debt and a loss on the acquisition of Mitsui's noncontrolling interest. The pretax gain is included in "Sundry income (expense) - net" in the consolidated statements of income and reflected in the following operating segments: Performance Materials & Chemicals (gain of $1,984 million), Performance Plastics (gain of $317 million), and Corporate (loss of $68 million). The Company recognized an after-tax gain of $2,215 million, primarily due to the tax-efficient nature of the Transaction.

The Company will not report the historical results of the chlorine value chain as discontinued operations in Dow's financial statements, as the divestiture of these businesses does not represent a strategic shift that will have a major effect on the Company's operations and financial results. However, the chlorine value chain is considered an individually significant component and select income statement information is presented below:

Dow Chlorine Value Chain Income Statement Information
In millions	2015(1)		2014		2013
Income Before Income Taxes (2)	$	139	$	281	$	212
Loss before income taxes attributable to noncontrolling interests	11		5		4
Income Before Income Taxes attributable to The Dow Chemical Company (2)	$	150	$	286	$	216

(1)    Income statement information for 2015 includes results through September 30, 2015.

(2)    Excludes transaction costs associated with the separation of the chlorine value chain, which are reported below.

In 2015, the Company incurred pretax charges of $119 million ($49 million in 2014) for nonrecurring transaction costs associated with the separation of the chlorine value chain, consisting primarily of financial and professional advisory fees, legal fees and information systems infrastructure costs. These charges, which are part of costs associated with portfolio and productivity actions, were included in "Sundry income (expense) - net" in the consolidated statements of income and reflected in Corporate.