RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Saudi Aramco has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a 70 percent stake in Saudi petrochemicals and chemicals company Sabic for about $69.1 billion.
The shares are being purchased from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia in a private transaction, Saudi Aramco said in a March 27 statement.
Aramco does not intend to purchase the remaining 30 percent of the publicly traded shares in Sabic in the future, according to its statement.
The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
The deal is major step in Aramco's downstream growth strategy of integrated refining and petrochemicals, said Amin Nasser, president & CEO of Saudi Aramco.
"Sabic is a good strategic fit and a solid platform to support our continued investment for future growth in petrochemicals," said Abdulaziz Al-Judaimi, senior vice president of downstream for Saudi Aramco.
He went on to note that Aramco is pursuing partnerships and acquisitions "to create long-term value and develop ground-breaking crude-oil-to-chemicals technologies."
Sabic's product portfolio includes materials for the tire and rubber industry, among them polybutadiene, EPDM rubber and carbon black.
Saudi Aramco supplies a broad range of synthetic rubber materials via its Arlanxeo subsidiary, as well as its Petro Rabigh and Sadara joint ventures in Saudi Arabia.
Headquartered in Riyadh, Sabic reported a net income of $5.7 billion on $45 billion sales in 2018.