Tronox may sell titanium dioxide plant to Ineos

In an effort to save its deal to buy Cristal, Tronox may sell a titanium dioxide complex in Ashtabula, Ohio, to Ineos for $700 million. The US Federal Trade Commission is trying to block the purchase of Cristal by Tronox—the second- and sixth-largest makers of the white pigment in the world, behind number one Chemours—on the grounds that the combined firm would have too commanding a market share in high-value chloride-process TiO₂. The merger was originally announced in February 2017. The Ashtabula plant, still owned by Cristal, has 245,000 metric tons per year of chloride-process TiO₂ capacity. This summer, Tronox signed an agreement to sell the plant to rival Venator in a deal potentially worth $1.1 billion. However, that transaction fell through when the 75-day exclusivity period between the firms expired in October before they could come to terms. In a new setback for Tronox, an administrative judge presiding over the case ruled that the merger might substantially lessen competition. Now it’s up to Tronox to convince the FTC that the sale to Ineos will be enough to preserve it.