Saudi’s Tasnee Signs $480m Deal To Raise Cristal Unit Stake

Saudi Arabia’s National Industrialization Co (Tasnee) has completed a SAR1.8 billion ($480 million) deal to raise its majority stake in its Cristal subsidiary by a further 13 percentage points, it said in a statement on Sunday.

The transaction, in which Tasnee will acquire the stake from Gulf Investment Corp, is in line with the company’s strategy to maximise its stakes in its subsidiaries, the statement said.

The move, completed on Dec. 4 but first announced in September, will begin affecting Tasnee’s financial statements from the first quarter of 2015, although the company said it was difficult to judge what kind of impact would be registered.

The purchase price will be paid in instalments over four months from the agreement date, the statement added.

Cristal is one of the world’s largest producers of titanium dioxide. Gulf Investment Corp is an investment company jointly owned by the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.