Dow Chemical prepared to delay Rohm & Haas deal: report

(Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co (DOW.N) is prepared to miss next week's deadline to clinch the $15 billion takeover of Rohm & Haas ROH.N in an effort to raise enough cash to complete the deal without taking on too much debt, the Financial Times reported on its website late on Tuesday.

The largest U.S. chemical maker said on Tuesday that it will take legal action against Petrochemical Industries Co of Kuwait for backing out of a joint venture. Dow had planned to use proceeds from the joint venture to repay a large part of the debt financing for the Rohm & Haas acquisition.

Dow is considering new partners for the proposed joint venture and has already been approached by two companies interested in its basic plastics business, Chief Executive Andrew Liveris told Reuters on Tuesday.

The FT said Liveris suggested that Dow was prepared to pay the penalty for missing Monday's deadline for the closure of the Rohm & Haas takeover, which also includes $3.7bn of the target company's debt.

The original agreement, signed in July, contains a "ticking fee" that requires Dow to pay around $100m more for every month of delay in closing the transaction.

"The ticking fee is not a huge amount of money," the FT website quoted Liveris as saying. "If the ticking fee has to be paid, it will not be a big deal."

Dow Chemical could not be immediately reached by Reuters for comment.

(Reporting by Ratul Ray Chaudhuri in Bangalore; Editing by Erica Billingham)