Lyondell Chemical said yesterday that it had agreed to sell its titanium dioxide pigment business to an affiliate of the National Industrialization Company of Saudi Arabia for about $1.2 billion.
Lyondell said that the deal would include a cash payment of $1.05 billion, and estimated its after-tax proceeds at $975 million.
National Industrialization owns 66 percent of the buyer, the National Titanium Dioxide Company, also known as Cristal. Titanium dioxide is a white pigment commonly used in consumer products like paint and toothpaste.
Lyondell said the deal was expected to close in the first half, and added that it intended to use the proceeds to reduce debt.
The operations being sold include eight factories in Europe, Australia and the Americas, National Industrialization said in a statement on the Saudi stock market Web site.
Prince Walid bin Talal, a Saudi billionaire and member of the royal family, is a shareholder of National Industrialization. Last month, the prince said he had raised his stake in the company from 10 percent, without saying how much he had bought.
Lyondell’s chief financial officer, T. Kevin DeNicola, said last month the company had received offers from 5 to 10 buyers for the pigment unit.
Shares of Lyondell rose $1.10, or 3.4 percent, to $33.04, on the New York Stock Exchange.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27chemical.html?ex=1173844800&en=ac4a6c3b64e8c38d&ei=5070
