Jul. 29--Pierre Brondeau, the French executive who was to lead the former Rohm & Haas Co. chemical businesses under new owner Dow Chemical Co., will retire in two months, Dow announced today.

Brondeau's sudden retirement is the latest twist in the rancorous merger between two of the nation's largest chemical companies. Dow purchased Rohm & Haas for $15.7 billion in April, a price that many analysts believed was too high because of the deep recession.

Dow tried mightily to abort the acquisition because of the lofty $78-per-share price, which had been accepted in 2008 before the worst of the economy's collapse. The deal went through as the companies were squared off in Delaware's Chancery Court.

Even before the deal was finally closed, Dow warned that it would have to make deep cuts in the Rohm operation in Philadelphia.

Brondeau, 51, was the highest-ranking former Rohm executive in Dow's management and was expected to remain there as a division leader with broad authority.

Brondeau was not available for comment.

Jerome Peribere, 55, a 30-year Dow veteran, will replace Brondeau in Philadelphia as head of Dow Advanced Materials. Peribere currently manages Dow's agricultural business, which some have speculated might be sold to help pay for the Rohm & Haas acquisition.

Dow said there will be no change in direction for the Philadelphia-based operation as a result of the executive changes.

Brondeau's departure follows the retirement of Raj Gupta, Rohm's CEO and board chairman, who led the fight to force the acquisition by Dow. The Dow purchase brought huge payments for ranking Rohm executives such as Gupta and Brondeau.

Brondeau was considered a top executive because he was an architect for Rohm & Haas' electronic materials division, which supplies the computer and television industry. The division was considered a crown jewel within Rohm & Haas.

Brondeau's talents were recognized by Dow. He was described as "an outstanding leader" by Andrew N. Liveris, Dow's president and CEO. A Dow spokesman did say of Dow's management: "It's a big organization with a lot breadth."

Dow is scheduled to announce quarterly earnings tomorrow. It will be the first earnings period to include the former Rohm operations.

Contact Bob Fernandez at (215) 854-5897 orbob.fernandez@phillynews.com.

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