US Huntsman abandons bid to acquire Tronox plants

22 December 2009 17:23  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--US pigment producer Huntsman on Tuesday gave up its plan to acquire several plants from Tronox. 

Huntsman withdrew a court motion that would have compelled Tronox to auction off most of its plants.

Huntsman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Initially, Tronox had planned to auction off the plants as part of a strategy to pay off creditors. Earlier this year, Tronox had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

As part of the auction, Huntsman had submitted a $415m (€291m) stalking-horse bid for the titanium dioxide (TiO2) plants. The stalking-horse bid established a price floor for the auction.

The auction strategy began falling apart as Tronox began considering a new strategy to pay off its creditors, one in which the company would emerge from bankruptcy protection as a standalone company.

Earlier in December, Tronox delayed the auction to 21 December. Consequently, Huntsman filed a motion seeking to compel Tronox to follow through with the auction.

Tronox then cancelled the auction.

The following lists the Tronox plants included in Huntsman's bid:

Location	Capacity
Hamilton, Mississippi	225,000 tonnes/year
Kwinana, Western Australia*	110,000 tonnes/year
Botlek, the Netherlands	90,000 tonnes/year

*joint venture with Exxaro Resources

($1 = €0.70)

For more on TiO2 visit ICIS chemical intelligence
For more on Huntsman visit ICIS company intelligence
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect

By: Al Greenwood
+1 713 525 2645

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