Ineos Enterprises will buy a North American titanium dioxide (TiO2) business from Tronox Ltd. for $700m (€619m).
The deal includes two plants in Ashtabula, Ohio.
Stamford, Connecticut-based Tronox needs to sell the business to clear its purchase of the global TiO2 business of National Titanium Dioxide Co. Ltd., which operates as Cristal. Cristal is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Ineos Enterprises is part of London-based Ineos, a global producer of plastics and speciality chemicals, whose products include polyethylene and polypropylene. TiO2 is commonly used as a whitener in plastics and many other products.
The proposed sale of the North American business to Ineos has received support from Cristal and Tronox’s North American customers and will make Ineos the second largest producer of this essential product in the US, Ineos officials said in a 19 March news release.
The acquisition “is a great opportunity for Ineos to enter the pigments market and become the second largest producer of titanium dioxide in the key North American market,” Ineos Chairman Jim Ratcliffe said in the release.
Cristal’s North American TiO2 unit “is a competitive business, with excellent people and assets,” Ineos Enterprises CEO Ashley Reed added.
Ineos employs 20,000 globally and has annual sales of around $60bn (€53bn).
By Frank Esposito
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