UPDATE: Dow Corning Sues Merrill Lynch Over Auction-Rate Sec.

Dow Corning Corp., a joint venture of Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) and Corning Inc. (GLW), sued Merrill Lynch & Co. on Friday for alleged misrepresentations regarding the sale of $166 million in now-illiquid auction-rate securities.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, alleged Merrill Lynch misrepresented the risk that auctions would fail and failed to disclose the fact that the auction-rate securities market was "artificially sustained by the continued bidding and purchasing" by Merrill Lynch and other broker-dealers.

"Defendants were artificially supporting and manipulating the ARS market to maintain the appearance of liquidity while they knew the market was illiquid and collapsing," the lawsuit said.

Hemlock Semiconductor Corp., a joint venture between Dow Corning, Shin-Etsu Handotai Co. and Mitsubishi Materials Corp. (5711.TO); and Devonshire Underwriters LLC, a captive insurer, also are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Dow Corning manages cash and certain assets for Hemlock and Devonshire.

Merrill Lynch is a unit of Bank of America Corp. (BAC).

A Merrill Lynch spokesman declined comment Friday, saying the company hadn't had an opportunity to review the allegations given the lawsuit was just filed.

-By Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-227-2017; chad.bray@dowjones.com