FTC takes Tronox and Cristal to federal court

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking a restraining order and an injunction preventing the titanium dioxide producers Tronox and Cristal from merging. Tronox agreed to purchase its white pigment rival, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s National Industrialization Co., in February 2017 for $1.7 billion in cash, plus stock. In December, seeking to block the merger, FTC brought the case before an administrative judge, a process that hasn’t been completed. The European Commission approved the deal earlier this month, requiring only the divestiture of a business in paper-laminate-grade TiO2. Should the merger proceed, FTC says, Tronox and rival Chemours would have a commanding U.S. market share for high-value chloride-process TiO2. “The proposed acquisition would substantially increase concentration in an already concentrated market,” FTC says in its complaint. Tronox says the court date will provide “the company a forum to demonstrate how the proposed acquisition enhances the company’s competitiveness on a global scale.”