Operations
SABIC underwent a business restructuring in October 2015, that saw the absorption of the commodity chemicals produced under the Innovative Plastics SBU into the Chemicals and Polymers SBUs. Along with this, the Specialties SBU was created to house the remainder of the Innovative Plastics products that did not fall under the commodity umbrella and the Innovative Plastics SBU would cease to exist by January 1, 2016.[11] This change follows the reallocation of the Performance Chemicals portfolio into the Chemicals SBU.[12][13]
In July 2002, SABIC commenced operations in Europe after the $2 billion acquisition of the petrochemicals business of Dutch group DSM.[14] SABIC Europe, SABIC's European subsidiary, produces over 2 million tonnes of polymers and over 5 million tonnes of basic chemicals. It employs over 3,000 people and has two major manufacturing locations in Geleen in the Netherlands and Gelsenkirchen in Germany.[10] After forming SABIC Europe, SABIC became the 11th-largest petrochemicals company in the world. The purchase of DSM signified SABIC's intent to expand and become a true global company. In 2004, the value of SABIC shares, listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), increased 170% while its net profits increased by 112% from 2003 to 2004.[15]
In 2005, SABIC was the Middle East's largest (in terms of market capitalization) and most profitable publicly listed non-oil company, the world's 11th-largest petrochemical company, ranked 331 on the Fortune Global 500 for 2005, the second-largest producer of ethylene glycol and methanol in the world, the third-largest producer of polyethylene and overall the fourth-largest producer of polypropylene and polyolefin. Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings claimed SABIC to be the world's largest producer of polymers and the Persian Gulf region's largest steel producer for 2005; they assigned SABIC an "A" corporate credit rating. That same year, Bloomberg ranked SABIC as the 13th-largest company in the world in terms of market capitalization (at the beginning of 2005 it exceeded 375 SAR billion, the equivalent of US$100 billion) and the second-largest by market value outside the US and UK.[15]
In June 2006, SABIC established the "SABIC Sukuk Company" to issue Islamic bonds (Sukuk) that are estimated to range between 1 SAR billion (US$266.67 million) and 3 SAR billion (US$800 million).
In January 2007, SABIC Europe took over Huntsman Corporation plants in the UK. Headquartered in Sittard, Netherlands, SABIC Europe has a European wide network of sales offices and logistic hubs, as well as three petrochemical production sites in Europe: Geleen (Netherlands), Teesside (United Kingdom), and Gelsenkirchen (Germany).[16]
In 2008, SABIC Europe produced 7.3 million metric tons of petrochemicals, mainly for the European market.
On May 21, 2007, SABIC acquired General Electric's Plastics division, in a US$11.6 billion cash deal, including US$8.7 billion of its liabilities,[17] and launched SABIC Innovative Plastics.[18] In that year, the company ranked 145 (previous rank: 301) in the Forbes Global 2000 list.[19] As of 2014, SABIC Innovative Plastics[20] is a multibillion-dollar company with operations in more than 25 countries and over 9,500 employees worldwide.[16]
In July 2009, SABIC received approval from the Chinese government to build a US$3 billion petrochemical complex in China, in order to gain a foothold in the world's fastest-growing chemicals market.[21]
In January 2018, SABIC announced that it had acquired a 24.99% stake in Clariant, the Swiss specialty chemical manufacturer. The stake was acquired from activist investor White Tale, and at Clariant's prevailing market-capitalisation would have been valued in the region of $2.4bn. The actual transaction price was undisclosed. SABIC CEO Yousef Al-Benyan had previously stated, in November 2017, that the company was looking to spend $3bn-$10bn on acquisitions over the next 10 years.
On March 27, 2019, SABIC announced that state-owned energy company Saudi Aramco signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a 70% majority stake in SABIC from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia in a private transaction worth $69.1 billion.[22] The transaction was completed in June 2020.[23]
SABIC moved its European headquarters from Sittard to Amsterdam in 2024.[24]
