Tasnee says liquidity will tighten after paying Cristal debt

Little cash surplus will remain from the sale of the titanium dioxide (TiO2) business of the National Titanium Dioxide Company Ltd (Cristal) to Tronox Limited after paying Cristal’s outstanding loans, Mutlaq Al-Morished, CEO of National Industrialization Co. (Tasnee), told CNBC Arabia.

Tasnee’s overall financial position will improve after paying Cristal’s debt, he said, noting that the Tronox-Cristal merger will take from three to six months.

When asked if there’s a possibility for distributing dividends after getting the cash surplus, he said: “It’s possible, depending on the cash flows, petrochemical prices and prices of finished products."

As for Tasnee’s future investment plans, Al-Morished said that the firm shall see opportunities in Saudi Arabia and the GCC states if possible, and if feedstock prices are not suitable, the firm could consider other counties with better prices such as Canada, the United States and Malaysia.

Going forward, Tasnee will focus on the petrochemicals industry, in addition to other profitable products of downstream activities, he said.

According to data compiled by Argaam, Tasnee said on Thursday that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved Tronox Limited’s planned acquisition of the titanium dioxide (TiO2) business of Cristal.

Under the deal, Cristal will receive $1.673 billion in cash and hold a 24 percent stake in Tronox. The funds will be used to fully pay Cristal’s outstanding bank debt.