GE completes sale of plastics business to SABIC at $11.6 billion
General Electric Company
announced on Friday(8/31) it had completed the sale of its
plastics business to Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC),
in a deal valued at $11.6 billion in cash plus assumption of
liabilities.
GE previously announced it would use the proceeds from the sale
to complete its current $27 billion stock buyback program, with
$12 billion of the $14 billion planned for 2007 coming in the
second half of this year.
Launch of SABIC INNOVATIVE PLASTICS expands SABIC's global presence
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) today announced the completion of its purchase of GE Plastics from General Electric for a purchase price of US$11.6 billion. The announcement was made by SABIC Chairman, HH Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thenayan Al-Saud.
The former GE unit is now SABIC Innovative Plastics, a new business addition to SABIC that will focus on the global growth of thermoplastics and engineering plastics through innovation to serve the automotive, electronics, healthcare, and construction sectors. Brian Gladden has been appointed CEO of SABIC Innovative Plastics.
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The company manufactures and compounds polycarbonate, ABS, ASA, PPE, PC/ABS, PBT and PEI resins, as well as the LNP line of high-performance specialty compounds, under such well known brand names as Lexan®, Cycolac®, Geloy®, Noryl®, Cycoloy®, Valox® and Ultem®.
The Specialty Film and Sheet division of SABIC Innovative Plastics manufactures high-performance Lexan sheet and film products used in thousands of demanding applications worldwide. The dedicated automotive organization is an experienced, worldwide supplier, offering leading plastics solutions for five key automotive segments: body panels and glazing; under the hood applications; component; structures and interiors; and lighting.
SABIC to build new PP compounding plant in Genk
SABIC is to build a new
compounding plant in Genk, Belgium. The plant will have an
initial production capacity of 110kt SABIC PP
compound and
30kt
of SABIC STAMAX long glass fiber PP. It is expected to come on-stream
at the beginning of 2010.
It will also be capable of housing an additional compounding line
in the future taking its ultimate capacity in excess of 170Ktes”
continued Mark.
Sabic IP: Final European ABS production unit to close
Sabic Innovative Plastics is to cease manufacturing ABS in Europe through the closure of its Grangemouth / UK facility from 31 July 2009. The action will result in the loss of 95 jobs.
SIP acquired the site in 2007 when it purchased GE Plastics, who had taken over the facility when it bought the plastics and chemicals operations of Borg-Warner in 1988. ABS production at Bergen op Zoom / The Netherlands was shut down by GE Plastics in 2003 and in 2008 manufacture was ended at SIP’s Villers-Saint-Sulpice / France site.