US Tronox seeks to sell Cristal's TiO2 Ashtabula plant to INEOS

Tronox seeks to sell Cristal's pigment site in Ashtabula, Ohio to INEOS for $700m in a bid to get US approval of its pending acquisition of the fellow producer of titanium dioxide (TiO2), the US-based company said on Tuesday. Tronox said the proposed sale to INEOS should address concerns from US antitrust regulators. An earlier attempt to sell the plant to Venator Materials had failed. "INEOS is an experienced and sophisticated purchaser of chemical operating assets, with dozens of successful acquisitions in the last two decades, particularly in chemical carve-out acquisitions," according to a statement by Tronox CEO Jeffry Quinn. INEOS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ashtabula has two plants with a combined capacity of 245,000 tonnes/year.