Burgeoning Saudi Firm Snags GE Plastics

$11.6B deal is Gulf region's biggest ever
By J. Kelman,  Newser User
Posted May 21, 2007 1:29 PM CDT
Burgeoning Saudi Firm Snags GE Plastics
'   (IndexOpen (http://www.indexopen.com))

A Saudi chemical company will take over General Electric's plastics division in a deal worth $11.6 billion, the companies said today. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., or Sabic, beat out Dutch-owned Basell for GE Plastics, which was put up for sale in January. The purchase, the largest ever by a Gulf-based company, is seen as a coup for Sabic.

The sale is CEO Jeff Immelt's latest move to diversify GE into faster-growing industries. GE Plastics, once an engine for innovation, has become a commodity producer facing volatile commodity prices. That’s what makes Sabic a good fit, Bloomberg suggests: It uses by-products from Saudi Arabia's oil and natural gas industries to produce plastic at a lower cost than international competitors. (More Saudi Basic Industries Corp. stories.)

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