Huntsman asks US court to force Tronox assets auction

Dec 14 (Reuters) - Huntsman Corp (HUN.N) has asked a U.S. court to force bankrupt chemicals maker Tronox Inc TRXAQ.PK to hold an auction for its titanium dioxide plants, citing a deal signed in August, court papers show.

Huntsman claims that Tronox said it may abandon the auction process, citing a Dec. 10 hearing in which Tronox revealed that it was in talks with an ad hoc committee of bondholders and other stakeholders regarding a potential alternative plan.

In August, Huntsman said it would bid $415 million for Tronox's titanium dioxide plants in the Netherlands and the United States, a 50 percent joint venture interest in a titanium dioxide plant in Australia and electrolytic production facilities.

In a court filing on Sunday, Huntsman, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based chemicals company, said it planned to pay competitive prices for the assets and that the alternative deal proposed by Tronox should be part of the auction process.

The U.S. operations of Tronox, which makes titanium dioxide pigment used in paint, plastics and paper, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, less than three years after being spun off from Kerr-McGee.

The bankruptcy case is In re: Tronox Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 09-10156. (Reporting by Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)