Apollo Global Management Inc, a private equity firm has approached pigment manufacturer Tronox Holdings Plc, with a $4.3 billion all-cash offer, according to a news report by Reuters.
Apollo has offered $27 per share to buy Stamford, Connecticut-based Tronox. The pigment manufacturer has hired advisers to consider the bid and has yet to decide on its next steps, the news agency said.
The report added that there is no certainty that Tronox will agree to any deal.
Tronox makes titanium dioxide pigment and other chemicals used to add brightness and durability to paints, plastics and paper.
The COVID-19 pandemic weighed on demand for many of Tronox’s products, but the company has said its core markets are recovering as the world’s major economies bounce back.
Tronox was spun out of Kerr-McGee Corp in 2005, and in 2019 it acquired the titanium dioxide business of Saudi Arabia’s National Titanium Dioxide Company Ltd from Saudi Arabia’s Tasnee. Tasnee, through a subsidiary, is now Tronox’s biggest shareholder with a 24% stake.