Riyadh – Mubasher: National Industrialization Co (Tasnee) on Thursday announced that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved Tronox Limited’s planned acquisition of the titanium dioxide (TiO2) business in the National Titanium Dioxide Company Limited (Cristal).

Tasnee owns a 79% stake in Cristal.

 FTC will allow the transaction to be completed upon Cristal’s approval to sell TiO2 to INEOS Enterprises, Tasnee said in a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) filing.

Upon closing the Cristal-Tronox transaction, Tasnee’s unit will receive a cash consideration of SAR 6.27 billion ($1.67 billion) and a 24% equity position in Tronox, the statement added.

Tasnee further noted that a large stake of the deal’s proceeds will be allocated for prepaying Cristal’s outstanding bank debts.

The transaction’s financial impact will be realised in Tasnee’s statements for the period ended on 30 June.

“This [deal] allows TASNEE to focus on its petrochemical assets, downstream business, and other strategic business development opportunities, while substantially deleveraging its consolidated balance sheet,” CEO Mutlaq H. Al-Morished stated.

In December 2017, Tasnee said that the American FTC objected to complete Tronox’s proposed acquisition of Tasnee’s subsidiary, Cristal.

Tasnee last reported a 68% year-on-year profit hike in 2018, logging SAR 1.20 billion after calculating Zakat and Tax, from SAR 716.2 million.