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DuPont eyes acquisitions
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March 10, 1999: 10:54 a.m. ET
Chemical firm seeking partners in pharmaceuticals; to issue new stock
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - DuPont, the No. 1 chemical company that reportedly is talking merger with Monsanto, said Wednesday it is "actively seeking alliances" with drug makers and would issue a new class of stock to use as currency in an acquisition.
"Given the success of our discussions to date, we expect to be able to conclude one or more of these alliances by the end of this year," Chairman Charles Holliday Jr. said.
DuPont has declined to comment on news reports it is in early-stage merger talks with Monsanto, the nation's No. 4 chemical company, and didn't mention Monsanto in its announcement.
It said the new stock would reflect the value of its life sciences business, which it has been expanding and where its interests are closely related to those of St. Louis-based Monsanto (MTC).
Investors liked what they heard, and DuPont stock rose 1-15/16 to 55-1/2 in early New York Stock Exchange trading.
DuPont's life sciences operations had sales of $4.3 billion last year, including its share of affiliates' sales, or about 17 percent of total revenue of $25.8 billion. The operations include its pharmaceutical, crop protection and nutrition and health businesses; its 20 percent stake in Pioneer Hi-Bred (PHB), the biggest producer of corn seed modified to resist crop disease, and its biotechnology research operations.
The moves come as DuPont, founded in 1802 as a maker of black blasting powder, is trying to wean itself away from bulk commodity chemicals, where sales depend on economic cycles and often rely heavily on price-cutting.
DuPont last year spun off 30 percent of its Conoco (COC) oil unit as a separate public company and has set plans to shed the rest of the business this year.
The company said it will file to issue its new life sciences stock late this year at the earliest, and then would seek shareholder approval for the move early next year. 
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DuPont
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