General Electric sells plastics division to Saudi Arabian company

GE and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) had reached agreement for SABIC to acquire GE Plastics for a purchase price of $11.6 billion. In earlier deals, SABIC has acquired DSM Petrochemicals business in Europe and the Huntsman Petrochemicals business in the UK. In each case, existing management teams continued to manage the business, and have been given SABIC's support to implement various investment and growth initiatives. SABIC Americas, based in Houston, is the foundation for the company's long-standing commitment to U.S. operations, having operated here for more than 20 years. SABIC also has long-term partnerships with prominent companies like ExxonMobil and Shell. The closing of the transaction is subject to completing regulatory approvals and is expected to occur by the third quarter of 2007.

GE Plastics is a global supplier of plastic resins widely used in automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics, transportation, performance packaging, building and construction, telecommunications and optical media applications.

Headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) is the largest public company in the Middle East, ranked by market capitalization (currently US$ 80 billion), and one of the world's 10 largest petrochemicals manufacturers. The company is among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene, glycols, methanol and fertilizers as well as the fourth largest polymer producer.