National Industrialization Company’s (Tasnee) [2060.SE] CEO, Mutlaq Al-Morished said in an interview with Al Arabiya tv channel that the company did not defer any of its debt payments. Al-Morished’s statement came in response to a Bloomberg article that quotes several sources as saying that Tasnee had suspended cSAR4bn of debt payments, while it holds refinancing talks with banks. Al Morished did confirm that the company was in talks with banks to refinance around USD1bn in debt, but that they have continued to make all their debt payments. He added that he expects it could take 9 to 15 months for the talks to conclude and an agreement to be reached with the consortium of banks that include 7 to 10 creditors. On the company’s operations, Al-Morished noted that the company’s ethylene cracker (SEPC) was operating at its highest rate since start of operations, and that while the company is facing some challenges with the titanium slag unit, given that it is a new technology, he expects operations at the first furnace to commence in 1H17, and the second furnace in 2H17. (Al Arabiya, Bloomberg)   National Industrialization Company: SAR12.25 as of 18 October 2016, Rating: Neutral, FV: SAR14.50 per share, MCap: USD2,185mn, NIC AB / 2060.SE