Dow Chemicals likely to sign deal with International Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is likely to strike a deal with Dow, a US-based chemical company, as one of the sponsors for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

A top IOC official from Lausanne told DNA on condition of anonymity that the deal will be officially announced in New York on Friday.

The IOC already has nine companies as sponsors and was looking to add two more. Global giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) is the other company that’s set to come on board, the IOC official said. “Wait until tomorrow (Friday) it will be official,” the IOC official said.

The sponsorship deal is for a minimum period of four years and is worth $100 million. The IOC has already secured up to $900 million in sponsorship revenue for the current four-year cycle and is likely to break the $1-billion barrier.

Acer, Atos Origin, Coca-Cola, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung and Visa are its existing sponsors. The Panasonic and Samsung deals run through 2016, while Coke and Omega are signed up through 2020.

Dow is a chemical and manufacturing company based in Midland, Michigan. It has a broad reach, from agricultural seeds to ingredients for cosmetics, electronics components, and automobile paint and food additives. Incidentally, this was the same company associated with the Bhopal gas tragedy.