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.
"We are very pleased to confirm the completion of this acquisition", said Prince Saud.
"This acquisition will significantly broaden SABIC's plastics product portfolio and provide access to new global markets. The people, products and technologies of SABIC Innovative Plastics bring a legacy of material innovation and expertise that I believe will enable SABIC to further strengthen and grow its position as a world-class leader in the plastics industry. We will maintain our commitment to the people, communities and facilities that have contributed to this world-class organization", he said.
Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, added, "We were able to secure the required financing due to recognition of SABIC in the global financial and capital markets, sound business profile of SABIC Innovative Plastics and its world-class diversified product portfolio. Hence, we successfully completed the deal on time, despite the prevailing turbulence in the global credit markets. This acquisition will further enhance SABIC's position amongst the leading global companies. Our global manufacturing capabilities will be further expanded to include significant additional plants and compounding operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific regions."
"SABIC Innovative Plastics is another strategically important step in our global growth and ongoing commitment to serve our customers - both in terms of geography and in meeting their needs for innovative plastics solutions and products that deliver outstanding value", he said.
Following earlier acquisitions of DSM and Huntsman's petrochemicals businesses in Europe, SABIC now has more than 30,000 employees. The company has an expanded global network of manufacturing facilities, Research & Technology centers and sales offices. With a presence in more than 100 countries, SABIC is well-positioned to meet the needs of its global customers.
SABIC Innovative Plastics
is a global supplier of plastic resins and compounds widely used
in automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics, transportation,
performance packaging, building and construction,
telecommunications and optical media applications.
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.
“Our
new plant represents an important first step in growing SABIC’s worldwide PP compounding
capability and will allow SABIC to follow the growth of our large
automotive customers in Western and Central Eastern Europe”, said Mark Neville, Business Unit
Director SABIC PP Automotive.
“This
plant will be the biggest green field PP compounding plant ever
built in Europe and has been designed with fully optimized
production and logistics flows in mind.
It will also be capable of housing an additional compounding line
in the future taking its ultimate capacity in excess of 170Ktes”
continued Mark.
“The
plant in Genk will also be the home of SABIC’s Compounding Innovation Centre
(CIC) with 3 pilot lines designed to speed the development cycle
for new products and processes thus improving our responsiveness
and flexibility” said Kees Verbraak, Manager Global
Technical Marketing for SABIC PP Automotive. “As the business develops we plan
to add CICs in other regions of the world”
he added.
“SABIC
is committed to growing its position in the global automotive
industry with its broad portfolio of SABIC PP, SABIC PP compound
and SABIC STAMAX long glass fiber products”, said Abdulsalam Al-Mazro, VP
Polymers, SABIC.
“We
are responding to an increasingly strong pull from the OEMs and
Tiers for raw material suppliers to have global capability. We
are, of course, also examining locations for further PP
compounding plant expansions worldwide”