The European Union has cleared the way for the mega merger between chemicals giants Dow Chemical Co (NYSE:DOW) and E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) to proceed in the EU, although the deal still has a much bigger hurdle to overcome in the U.S.

Written by StockNews.com

As the AP reports, regulators in Europe expressed initial trepidation over the deal, but after examining it closely, have given it the OK:

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said the bloc’s conditional approval ensures that the merger “does not reduce price competition for existing pesticides or innovation for safer and better products in the future.”

The 28-nation bloc had raised concerns over the merger in the form originally proposed, but the EU’s executive Commission said that “the commitments submitted by Dow and DuPont address these concerns in full.”

Dow and DuPont first announced the $130 billion deal way back in June 2016. As per their agreement, the two companies will first combine into a single entity before breaking up into three separate publicly-traded firms. The three new companies will focus on the areas of agriculture, material science, and the production and sale of specialty products.

The deal is still far from completed, however. U.S. regulators are still inspecting the merger closely, and may required additional actions from the two companies to satisfy a bevy of antitrust concerns.

...Year-to-date, DD has gained 8.98%, versus a 4.62% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

DD currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #3 of 68 stocks in the Chemicals category.

...Year-to-date, DOW has gained 10.24%. DOW currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #2 of 68 stocks in the Chemicals category.