Tronox continues Cristal deal
STAMFORD — Chemicals and minerals maker Tronox said Monday it would press on with its planned $1.7 billion acquisition of the titanium dioxide business of Saudi Arabian firm Cristal, after federal officials again signaled their opposition to the deal.
Tronox has proposed to sell Cristal’s Ashtabula, Ohio titanium dioxide plant — its largest such facility and one that accounts for 30 percent of its total production. But the proposal has failed to convince the Federal Trade Commission, with the company confirming Monday that an FTC administrative law judge had ruled the deal would reduce competition for chloride forms of titanium dioxide. Earlier this year, the FTC sued to block the purchase on similar grounds.
“Although Tronox is disappointed by the
( judge’s) decision, we continue to believe this outputenhancing combination will benefit titanium dioxide consumers in the U.S. and around the world,” Jeffry Quinn, Tronox’s CEO and president, said in a statement.
With Cristal and the proposed Ohio complex’s proposed buyer, Londonbased chemicals firm INEOS Enterprises, Tronox officials said they would keep working to gain approval for the sale. The companies would be al- lowed to “engage directly” with FTC commissioners. Tronox officials said they have not yet presented their plan to those officials.
Earlier this year, Tronox had floated a sale of the Ohio property, for a possible price between $900 million and $1.1 billion, to titanium dioxide manufacturer Venator Materials. But the two firms could not agree to terms.
Venator was also the buyer of Tronox’s Rotter- dam, Netherlands-supplied paper-laminate line. That deal was completed earlier this year to secure the European Commission’s support of the titanium dioxide acquisition.
In addition to the EC’s support, Tronox has received regulatory approvals in Australia, China, New Zealand, Turkey, South Korea, Colombia and Saudi Arabia.
But securing FTC ap- proval has proved much more arduous.
“The American context is very different where the two firms (Tronox and Cristal) are very major competitors, given the FTC’s definition of the product and geographic market and the long history of (industrywide) tacit or express price fixing,” Peter Carstensen, a professor emeritus of law at the University of Wisconsin, said in a recent interview.
Originally announced in February 2017, the titanium dioxide deal focuses on a white pigment used in products including paint, industrial coatings, plastic and paper.
Tronox shares closed Monday about $7, down 3.4 percent from their Friday closing.