The prognosis Dow Chemical’s lawyers gave to its top executives ahead of Monday’s trial must have been grim given the painful 11th-hour compromise Dow reached with shareholders of Rohm and Haas late in the day.

After both parties asked for the trial to be postponed, Dow agreed to pay the original $78 cash a share, getting neither a price reduction nor the ability to pay partially in shares. It did not even get to delay the $15.3bn deal until June as it had asked. The only consolation is that lenders have extended a bridge loan to two years from one and that two large Rohm shareholders have lent Dow another $2.5bn in preferred stock.