Dow Chemical Co. has agreed to sell off its chlorine business in a $5 billion deal with Olin Corp. as the company looks to get rid of less profitable products.

Dow investors will retain a 50.5 percent stake in Olin while Olin shareholders will hold the rest, according to the companies as reported by Bloomberg.

Dow Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris has stated that he intends to sell of $7 billion to $8.5 billion in assets as the company shifts its focus to value-added products like plastics for autos and genetically modified corn seeds. With this sale, Dow is set to exceed that total.

It marks the end of an era of sorts for Dow, which was founded in 1897 as a producer of bleach, a product of chlorine. But because chlorine has become such a commodity with low profit margins, Dow Vice Chairman Jim Fitterling said recently that it was time to move on: “This is Dow’s oldest business and our most commoditized business,” he said according to Bloomberg.

Olin is the oldest maker of chlorine in North America and has sought to become an industry leader. The company will use $2 billion of debt to help finance the merger, which will triple Olin’s chlorine capacity. This will push Olin’s capacity past Occidental Petroleum Corp., which currently is the second-largest producer of chlorine. Meanwhile, its earnings are expected to jump from $340 million per year to $1 billion.

As part of the deal, which will be completed by the end of the year, Dow will receive $2 billion in cash and cash equivalents and Olin common stock, valued at $2.2 billion. The remaining $800 million will come from Olin assuming pensions and other liabilities.

Olin, meanwhile, will get Dow assets on the U.S. Gulf Coast, including factories in Texas and Louisiana. Dow will become one of Olin’s largest chlorine customers, and will retain chlorine assets in Europe and Brazil, according to the report.