UPDATE 3-Dow Chemical touts Rohm acquisition, shares jump

* Sees 2012 EPS of $4 to $4.50

* 2008 EPS, ex-items, was $1.82

* Executives tout Rohm acquisition's potential

* Shares rise 7.1 percent
(Adds executive comment on macroeconomy and dividend, adds
closing stock price)

By Ernest Scheyder

NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co (DOW.N)
defended its high-priced acquisition of Rohm & Haas to
investors on Thursday, saying the deal "revitalized" its
portfolio and should help earnings grow in the next two years.

In one of his first meetings with investors since the Rohm
buyout, which nearly cost Dow its investment-grade credit
rating, Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said he expects 2012
earnings of $4 to $4.50 per share.

That is sharply above the $1.82, excluding items, the
company earned in 2008.

Liveris and other executives touted cost savings from the
Rohm purchase and said it enhances the company's ability to
generate new products and new revenue.

"We believe that Dow today has all of the elements in place
to move forward aggressively," Chief Executive Andrew Liveris
said at the company's investor day in New York.

Additionally, the Rohm assets should boost sales 10
percent, Liveris said.

Morningstar analyst Ben Johnson said the earnings outlook
might be tough to achieve because the cost cuts that Dow has
recently relied on may yield diminishing returns in future
years. He also questioned Dow's assumption of consistently
strong growth in emerging markets.

"The 2012 target is going to be a high hurdle," he said.

And while Liveris is bullish on growth, he said that even
though he believes the recession is over, "we're still very
much in a constrained environment."

JOINING FORCES, SELLING ASSETS

Dow also said it is moving forward on plans to sell its
Styron unit and form a joint venture for its basic plastics
business.

The company hopes to sell Styron, which makes polystyrene,
rubber and latex, by the first quarter of 2010, executives
said.

The company is also in talks with at least two state-owned
raw material companies to form a joint venture akin to last
year's failed K-Dow project.

Dow had planned to form K-Dow with a Kuwaiti company, only
to have Kuwait walk away last December.

Liveris has declined to discuss the K-Dow collapse
publicly, but in a private question-and-answer period with
investors on Thursday the chief executive admitted a mistake
had been made.

The K-Dow collapse, and the subsequent Rohm & Haas
purchase, led Dow to cut its dividend for the first time in
history earlier this year.

Dow's acting chief financial officer, Bill Weideman,
declined to comment Thursday about a possible boost to the
dividend, but instead noted the company has a policy in place
currently to focus on reducing its massive debt load.

Also on Thursday, Dow, the nation's largest chemical maker
said it would sell its powder coatings business to Akzo Nobel
NV (AKZO.AS) for an undisclosed amount.

Dow also announced a cross-licensing agreement with
DuPont's (DD.N) Pioneer seed unit.

Shares of the Midland, Michigan-based company rose $1.89
or 7.1 percent to close at $28.60 on Thursday on the New York
Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Dave Zimmerman,
Steve Orlofsky and Matthew Lewis)