The European Commission has given its final approval for Huntsman's planned acquisition of Rockwood's Performance Additives and Titanium Dioxide businesses.

In September, the EC gave a preliminary greenlight for the deal, mandating, however, that Rockwood divest its 30,000 t/y "TR52" TiO₂ business, which produces primarily for the printing inks industry.

To comply with the restrictions, Huntsman said it has signed a "definite agreement" to sell the TR52 business to Henan Billions Chemicals, one of China's top three TiO2 producers.

The acquisition of the Rockwood business will make Huntsman the world's second largest TiO₂ producer, behind still-market leader DuPont.

In October 2013, DuPont announced plans to spin off of its $7.2 billion Performance Chemicals division, which includes TiO2 as well as fluorochemicals and polymers.

Earlier this year, reports suggested, however, that the chemical group, which is under pressure from an activist shareholder, was rethinking its strategy for the businesses.

The shareholder, Nelson Peltz, who through his Trian fund is one of DuPont's largest shareholders, with a stake estimated to be worth $1.6 billion, has set his sights on breaking up what he said is the group's value-destroying conglomerate structure.