Dow Chemical said today that it has received government approval to sell its Morton Salt business, one of several operations that Dow is unloading to help fund its acquisition of specialty chemicals manufacturer Rohm and Haas.

Dow, the parent company of Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences, said it expects to receive $1.68 billion from the sale of Morton Salt to Kassel, Germany-based K+S Aktiengesellschaft. The deal should close in the next few days.

Dow, which makes chemicals in everything from plastic bags to automobiles, said the Federal Trade Commission has approved the transaction and that K+S already has fulfilled the requirements of the FTC by selling bulk deicing salt assets in Maine and Connecticut.

Once the deal is approved, K+S will become the largest salt producer in the world.

Dow said it will use the proceeds to pay off the balance of a loan that it used to partially fund its acquisition of Rohm and Haas.

Dow announced April 1 that it was selling Morton Sale to K+S, the same day it completed its contentious $16.5 billion buyout of Rohm&Haas.

Since the deal closed, Dow has moved aggressively to cull debt, cut jobs and close plants.

Dow had planned to use proceeds from a $17.4 billion joint venture with a state-owned Kuwaiti company to fund the Rohm and Haas acquisition, but that deal fell through last December.

Dow shares gained 32 cents to $25.47 in trading Monday morning. The shares have traded between $5.89 and $34.72 over the past year.

Earlier this month, Dow Chemical told Reuters the company plans to hold onto the agricultural business for now. Chief Executive Andrew Liveris backed away from statements earlier this year that Dow might spin off the fast-growing unit, sell it, or team up with another agricultural company in order to cut its debt from the Rohm&Haas purchase.