From the Field

Saudi Aramco to buy SABIC for $69 bln

Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, March 28, 2019 – Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) will merge with Saudi Aramco under a long-anticipated deal announced by the NOC on Wednesday.

Aramco will take a 70% stake in the industrial giant, paying USD 69.1 billion to the country’s sovereign wealth fund. An initial agreement on the deal had been made in mid-2018, and had remained under study.

SABIC is an industrial major with global operations in more than 50 countries that earned USD 45 billion in net income last year.

“This transaction is a major step in accelerating Saudi Aramco’s transformative downstream growth strategy of integrated refining and petrochemicals,” Amin Nasser, CEO of Aramco, said in Wednesday’s statement.