Ineos to go ahead with purchase of a Tronox titanium dioxide plant

Tronox and Ineos are going ahead with a deal that will send Tronox’s titanium dioxide plant in Ashtabula, Ohio, to Ineos for $700 million. The two firms said in December that they were contemplating the sale as a way to help Tronox salvage its acquisition of Cristal, a rival TiO₂ producer. The US Federal Trade Commission wanted to block the purchase of Cristal on the grounds that the combined firm would have too commanding a share of the market for the chloride-process version of the white pigment. The Ashtabula plant, owned by Cristal, is a large producer of chloride-process TiO₂. Tronox says FTC staffers have moved to withdraw the case and will ask the full commission to allow the deal to go ahead. Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe says the purchase will allow his firm to enter the pigment market and instantly become the second-largest TiO₂ maker in North America.