Officials Seek to Convince Dow-Dupont to Headquarter in Indy

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INDIANPOLIS­­ — Indiana and Indianapolis officials met with representatives from Dow and DuPont last week in an effort to persuade the the merged company, consisting Dow AgroSciences and Dupont’s Pioneer seed business to locate its new agribusiness in Indiana’s capital city.

DowAgroSciences, with 1,500 employees, is presently headquartered on the northwest side of Indianapolis. The new company would be a combination of Indy’s Dow AgroSciences and DuPont’s Pioneer seed company.

Other potential locations for the ag business is Wilmington, Del., where DuPont is currently headquartered or Johnson, Iowa, home of Pioneer Seed.

“Just in terms of reputation and prestige as a place for business in growing high-tech fields,” said Jerry Conover, director of Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University, “the loss of that location to a different city would circulate through the economic development community around the country and world,” reports the Indianapolis Star.

Angela Smith Jones, deputy mayor for economic development, said the city is willing to do whatever it can to attract the new company.

“What I am at liberty to say is, of course, as a city we would welcome any corporate global headquarters in Indianapolis,” she said. “In that regard, we, as a city, are willing to look at every tool we have in our toolbox, working along with the state, to ensure we could capture that business.”

The Dow-DuPont merger would create three independent, publicly traded companies in agriculture, material sciences and specialty products. Dow is based in Midland, Mich., where the materials division would be located. The merger was announced in December and is pending regulatory approval, reports the Star.