Cristal and Tasnee in joint venture with Toho

The National Industrialization Company (Tasnee) and The National Titanium Dioxide Company Ltd. (Cristal) signed an agreement to establish a joint venture company with Toho Titanium Company Ltd. (Toho). Through SIDF/local funding the new company will invest a total of $420 million to construct a 15,600 MT/year titanium sponge production facility in Yanbu Industrial City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The new facility will be built adjacent to Cristal’s existing titanium dioxide plant in Yanbu Industrial City. Cristal’s Titanium Dioxide plant will supply the new production plant with titanium tetrachloride. The strategic objective of the new joint venture company is to produce high quality titanium sponge at a competitive cost by benefiting from the economies of scale and integrated synergies resulting from Cristal’s existing Yanbu operations and Toho’s advanced production technology. The new company, which will consist of an equity shareholding of 32.5% for Cristal, 32.5% for Tasnee and 35% for Toho, is also expected to create more than 160 highly skilled direct jobs in Yanbu. www.cristal.com