Big Rohm investor urges Dow to get moving

The crisis over the Rohm & Haas Co. and Dow Chemical Co. merger moved on two fronts today.

Delaware Judge William Chandler 3d denied a request by Dow Chemical to delay the March 9 trial, according to Bloomberg News.

Separately, the New York hedge fund operator Paulson & Co. Inc. released a letter to Dow Chemical saying it should close on the deal before a delay harms shareholders. Dow could cut its dividend to a penny, sell bonds, and raise cash through an equity offering to finance the $15.3-billion deal, said the letter, which was dated yesterday and addressed to Andrew N. Liveris, Dow president, CEO and board chairman.

Paulson is the second-largest shareholder in Rohm & Haas. The largest is the founding Haas family, of Philadelphia.