Dow Chemical agrees to add board members

NEW YORK – Dow Chemical has agreed to add four new members to its board of directors after pressure from hedge fund activist Daniel Loeb’s Third Point.

Three of the new additions will join the board in January. They are former IBM chief financial officer Mark Loughridge, former Foster Wheeler CEO Raymond Milchovich and former Hawker Beechcraft CEO Robert Miller. U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis will join in May.

Midland-based Dow has also agreed to include the group in its nominees for election at the 2015 annual meeting.

In January, Third Point disclosed that it bought a stake in Dow, calling it its biggest investment. Third Point has a 1.9% stake in the company.

As recently as last week, Third Point published a website and video pushing Dow to shake up its board and increase shareholder value. In February, Dow rejected a push by Third Point to spin off its petrochemicals division.

As part of the agreement announced Friday, Third Point has agreed it would not publicly criticize Dow or push for any changes in the board for a year.