SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Dow Chemical Co tumbled to a new 24-year low on Thursday ahead of a trial next week to find whether Dow can get out of its more than $15 billion takeover of Rohm and Haas Co .
Alongside a broad-based pummeling of U.S. stocks, shares of Dow slid to $6.31 -- a price last seen in April 1985 -- before partly recovering to $6.70, down 5.1 percent.
"It's all to do with Rohm & Haas," S&P equity analyst Richard O'Reilly said, noting the stock had already been trending downward from the $10 level since Dow cut its dividend by 64 percent on February 12.
Dow is now valued at about $6 billion, making it the second-largest U.S. chemicals company. Shares of DuPont Co
Dow agreed to buy Rohm and Haas last July for $78 a share -- a 74 percent premium, but balked at closing after a key joint venture with Kuwait fell apart. Dow had intended to use proceeds from that transaction -- a $17.4 billion plastics joint venture -- to help fund the Rohm deal.
Rohm and Haas sued in January to try to force Dow to close the takeover. Delaware Chancellor William Chandler will hear the trial, which is scheduled to open on March 9.
(Reporting by Braden Reddall; editing by Richard Chang)
