Tasnee to treat Cristal’s assets as ‘held-for-sale’ after Tronox deal

National Industrialization Co. (Tasnee) said it will classify assets and liabilities of the National Titanium Dioxide Ltd. (Cristal) in its Q4 2017 financial statements as held-for-sale assets, as of Oct. 2, 2017.

This came after chemical maker Tronox issued 37.58 million class A shares to Cristal shareholders, as part of the acquisition deal.

Upon completing the sale deal, Tasnee will not consolidate Cristal’s assets and will consider its 24 percent stake in the new Tronox as an investment.

Tasnee and Tronox have previously announced that the acquisition deal will close in Q1 2018.

Earlier this year, Tronox announced a definitive agreement to acquire the titanium dioxide (TiO2) business of Cristal for $1.673 billion of cash and class A ordinary shares representing 24 percent ownership in pro forma Tronox. 

Shares of the NYSE-listed Tronox rose 87 percent after signing the deal, and closed at $26.97 on Friday, Oct. 27, compared to $14.42 last February.

The deal is valued at SAR 10 billion at the closing price of Friday, Oct. 27, while SAR 3.803 billion worth of shares were issued for Cristal shareholders.

The deal would make Tronox the world’s largest producer of the whitening pigment, operating 11 titanium dioxide plants in eight countries with total capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per year. Cristal will hold a 24 percent stake in the new Tronox, which will include the expanded pigments unit.