DowDuPont CEO Breen assumes executive role in new DuPont

(Reuters) – DowDuPont (DWDP.NChief Executive Officer Edward Breen will oversee the specialty products unit that handles most of DuPont's business after the chemical division was split into three different activities, the company said on Monday.

Dow and Dupont, which entered into a $ 130 billion merger last September to form DowDuPont, also announced plans to create three separately listed companies specializing in agriculture, plastics and specialty products.

Breen, who was CEO of the former DuPont company, led the merger of the two companies and has since led a plan to cut spending by $ 3.3 billion.

He will be executive chairman of the chemistry business, called DuPont, from June 1st. The current general manager of the Specialty Products Unit, Marc Doyle, will become its General Manager.

"Breen will work closely with the management team and focus on the portfolio management strategy, capital allocation decisions and, in collaboration with Marc Doyle, shareholder engagement," the company said. a statement.

The specialty products segment, which produces products for building materials or semiconductors and microchips, accounted for about a quarter of the company's total sales in June 2017.

Its plastics science unit is the largest in terms of revenue, but has been stripped of its annual $ 8 billion business as a result of investor pressure from Trian Partners and Third Point LLC.

James Collins Jr., currently DowDuPont's farm manager, will lead the new farm business called Corteva Agriscience.

The company confirmed that Jim Fitterling, the chief operating officer of its materials operations, would be the company's new chief executive officer under the Dow name.