Dow Chemical Co. (DOW Quick QuoteDOW - Free Report) and DuPont (DD Quick QuoteDD - Free Report) announced on Wednesday that stockholders of both firms approved the proposals necessary to merge the two companies.

The approval occurred during both companies’ respective special meetings for stockholders Wednesday morning. Dow’s Chairman and CEO Andrew N. Liveris responded by stating that “The overwhelming support of Dow and DuPont stockholders to approve this historic merger transaction is a clear testament to the compelling value proposition and enhanced shareholder value that DowDuPont represents.”

After the theoretically successful merger, the combined company plans on separating into three independent, publicly traded companies by 2018. These three companies would operate in the agriculture, material science, and specialty products businesses respectively.

The $59 billion all-stock deal was first announced on December 11^th. The companies expect the deal to close in the second half of 2016, but are pending regulatory approval from the U.S. Justice Department, which is currently performing an in-depth probe on the deal.

Both companies operate in the CHEM-DIVERSIFD industry, which at 142/265 currently stands in the bottom 46% of the Zacks Industry Rank.

Dow Chemical and DuPont currently sit at a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some potentially better industry peers to consider are Huntsman Co. (HUN Quick QuoteHUN - Free Report) and Stepan Co.. (SCL Quick QuoteSCL - Free Report) , which both currently sit at a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) due to upward earnings estimate revisions for the current and following quarters.

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