27 March 2007 – Saudi Arabia’s Sabic group will make a bid to buy GE Plastics during the auction for the engineering polymer maker to be held in mid-April, according to the Financial Times. The paper reports that Sabic has appointed Citigroup to prepare an indicative offer that could run as high as $12bn.
The $7bn turnover GEP business, famed for its Lexan and Noryl polymers, was put up for sale earlier this year by the parent GE Group, which reportedly appointed Goldman Sachs to handle the sale process.
Speculation on bidders has included a combination of private equity firm Blackstone and privately owned chemicals giant Koch Industries, India’s Reliance Industries, BASF and private equity players including KKR and Bain. GE has apparently stipulated that a sale to private equity should not involve more than one company, precluding combined bids.
Sabic, 70% owned by the Saudi government, has been expanding its product breadth from its initial polyolefins focus; the Riyadh-based group, which has bought DSM Petrochemicals and Huntsman’s European petrochemicals business, is now a partner in a new Saudi consortium project with a polycarbonate component.
