Kuwaiti panel probes Dow ruling

Kuwait formed a ministerial committee to handle an international court ruling that ordered the Gulf state to pay US$2.16bn in damages to Dow Chemical, according to a cabinet statement. The committee, headed by the finance minister, will also seek to “minimise losses and damages” as a result of the ruling, according to the statement, released after the Council of Ministers’ weekly meeting yesterday. The award by the London-based International Court of Arbitration doesn’t include costs or interest and is final and binding, Midland, Michigan-based Dow said on May 24. Kuwait’s Petrochemical Industries Company, under pressure from lawmakers, canceled a contract to form a 50-50 venture with Dow’s plastics unit in December 2008. The failure of the so-called K-Dow venture deprived Dow of a US$9bn payment during the global financial crisis, almost derailed its 2009 purchase of Rohm & Haas and forced the company’s first dividend cut. Kuwait’s government, which has held a series of high-level meetings since the ruling was announced, also formed a separate panel to probe all procedures followed in the deal and those leading to its cancellation, according to the statement. By / Arabian Business