DuPont retracts water argument and focuses on electronics

The American industrial materials manufacturer DuPont has shelved its plan to spin off the water segment as an independent publicly traded company. Instead, the company announced on Wednesday that it will expedite the separation of the electronics business. This decision comes a few months after the announcement to split DuPont into a total of three publicly traded companies to generate added value and pursue targeted growth strategies. The accelerated separation of the electronics segment is now expected to be completed by November 1, after a timeframe of up to 24 months for this step had been considered in May of the previous year. DuPont's electronics segment includes key technologies such as semiconductors and connectivity solutions and saw a 7.1% increase in sales in the third quarter. CEO Lori Koch stated that the decision to maintain the water business within DuPont provides the company with more strategic flexibility in the long term and an additional strong growth option alongside the healthcare sector. The water segment is projected to be a success story by 2025. Looking back, in 2015, DuPont merged with Dow to form DowDuPont in a deal worth 130 billion US dollars. Two years later, the chemical divisions were spun off as a separate company, Dow, and the agricultural division as Corteva, while DuPont continued as the company it is today. In a global context, various companies, including Maple Leaf Foods, have decided to split their business segments into publicly traded entities to increase profitability and revenues. Following the announcement, DuPont shares saw a slight decrease of over 1%, but the losses were minimized in after-hours trading.