The combined company, to be called C&K Witco Corp., would be one of the world’s biggest specialty chemicals concerns. The two companies reported combined sales of more than $3.5 billion in 1998 and hold major market positions in additives, polymers and other specialty chemicals. E. Gary Cook, Witco chairman, president and CEO, is slated to become chairman of C&K Witco. Vincent A. Calarco, Crompton & Knowles chairman, president and CEO, would be president and CEO of the merged company. The companies said they expect the merger to be completed during the third quarter, pending regulatory and shareholder approval. The agreement has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors.

For Witco, a major supplier of coatings additives, the merger agreement follows a restructuring program involving the divestiture of certain businesses and cost reductions. The company is a producer of organofunctional silanes, adhesion promoters, crosslinkers, foam-control agents, surfactants and other specialty chemicals.