Delaware, the DuPont Company's longtime home, is unlikely to get much of a boost from the planned merger with Dow Chemical, Dean Roger Dennis said in an article published in the News Journal on Dec. 11.

While the chemical giants have announced plans to create three new companies, Dennis predicted that Delaware would not benefit greatly from the move.

“I wouldn’t put too much stock into the divestitures saving the day,” said Dennis, an expert on securities law.

Even if any of the three new companies are based in Delaware, Dennis said, their success is unpredictable.

"You never know how these spinoffs are going to work out economically,” he said. “That is so variable, based on the precise nature of the business and how they would be bundled."

Given both companies’ global reach, the merger will face antitrust scrutiny in Europe and Asia that could scuttle the deal, Dennis said.

"Hypothetically,” he said, “if the European regulators were bugged about a piece of the business and it was not solvable by a divestiture that makes economic sense, then the deal would not close.”