Tronox Ltd. (Stamford, Conn.; www.tronox.com) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with FMC Corp. (Philadelphia, Pa.; www.fmc.com) to acquire its Alkali Chemicals business for $1.64 billion. Tronox will fund the acquisition through existing cash and new debt pursuant to signed commitments from multiple banks. The transaction, which has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015 and is subject to customary closing conditions.
“We are very pleased to sell our Alkali Chemicals business to a leading global mining and minerals company like Tronox,” said Pierre Brondeau, FMC president, CEO and chairman. We achieved our goal of finding the best owner for this business. This is a natural fit for Alkali Chemicals, which will thrive as a new, strategic business at Tronox.”
The purchase price of $1.64 billion will be funded with approximately $1 billion of cash and approximately $600 million of new debt pursuant to signed commitments received from UBS Investment Bank, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital Markets. The financing structure preserves liquidity, and the resulting capital structure provides flexibility to continue our disciplined approach to pursuing our strategic growth initiatives. Tronox places a high value on maintaining its existing credit ratings and believes that the attractive deleveraging profile of the combined entity will reduce the net leverage ratio to less than 4.0x in 12 to 15 months.