Tronox To Buy Cristal's TiO(2) Business For $1.673 Billion In Cash And Stock

Mining and chemcials company Tronox Ltd. said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire Cristal's TiO(2) business for $1.673 billion in cash and stock equal to 24% ownership in pro forma Tronox. The company said it is also planning to begin the process of selling its Alkali business. Tronox is expected the deal to be 100% accretive to EPS in the first year and to close before the first quarter of 2018. The combination "creates the world's largest and most highly integrated TiO(2) pigment producer with assets and operations on six continents," Tronox said in a statement. Tronox shares jumped 11% premarket and are up 333% in the last 12 months, outperforming the S&P 500 , which has gained 22%.