Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Frank Mitsch - BB&T Capital Markets.
Frank Mitsch - BB&T Capital Markets
You obviously are taking some aggressive steps here to preserve cash and put yourself in a better position for this downturn. Is there any thought that perhaps you might go back to Rohm and Haas and instead of making it an all-cash transaction use a component of cash as well as some equity?
Andrew N. Liveris
We get asked the question a lot about the Rohm and Haas transaction and I think even yourself. We have examined all sorts of ways to think at the Rohm and Haas transaction in the context of today’s economic circumstances including currency. Some of these things we’ve examined, we’re not at liberty to talk publicly about. I know you would respect that. But rest assured that we’re looking at every possible mechanism. At the same time we remain committed to closing the deal.
Today’s announcement, which you know really was centered on our transformation and acceleration of our transformation, is really an acceleration to accommodate not only the current market conditions but the nature of the transaction that we’re undertaking with Rohm and Haas. I’ve said it many times, if in today’s market conditions we’re paying a premium that is pretty high to say the least compared to current equity prices but even so back in July some of you said it was high in the context of those conditions, there is really only one real answer.
And that is to adjust ourselves and accelerate the ability to implement better and to deliver more savings to the bottom line. We believe we’ve come up with a way to do it through firstly our own acceleration of our restructuring and we’ll have a lot more to say about what we will do once we complete the acquisition.
But on the currency side you can rest assured we’ve looked at all sorts of ways and without getting into specific answers.
Operator
Our next question comes from Jeffrey Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan.
Jeffrey Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan
Can you discuss in more detail your 30% production cut? That is, is this relative to a product chain or weighted in a product chain or in an end market or in a geographic region? And what’s the timing of these production cuts?
Andrew N. Liveris
We’ve been in the last two months operating what we’ve been calling internally in the company Code Red. Geoffery and I and the entire executive team meet with the business leaders every week and we’ve been diving through the analysis of market conditions watching the operating rates, watching the end use markets, seeing where the biggest deteriorations were, and we actually are so diversified in end use that we’re not singularly exposed to just one set of geographic product combinations like housing US or auto US. That’s the beauty I guess of our diversification.
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