Clariant to update investors on SABIC deal by July

Swiss speciality chemical company Clariant will update investors by July on Saudi Basic Industries Corp’s (SABIC) planned acquisition of a 25 percent stake in the firm, said CEO Hariolf Kottmann, cited by Reuters.

Last month, SABIC, which is 70 percent owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), acquired a 25 percent stake in Clariant.

The Saudi company is a “strategic anchor shareholder” that will allow Clariant to continue in its current structure, Kottmann said.

The Clariant CEO will discuss with his SABIC counterpart Yousef Al-Benyan over the next five months on how the arrangement will work, including governance issues and board representation.

Addressing a news conference in Zurich on Wednesday, Kottmann said he expected an “eventual accord” with SABIC to include restrictions on any move to take control of the Swiss company.

“My colleague Yousef Al-Benyan is a very reliable and credible internationally experienced executive. He has clearly stated several times there is no interest in SABIC taking Clariant over,” he noted.

SABIC is awaiting anti-trust clearance in around ten jurisdictions for its Clariant stake, and an update is set to be released after “late June or early July”, Kottmann added.

In November last year, Al-Benyan said SABIC planned to spend $3-10 billion on acquisitions and was looking at two producers of speciality plastics with operations in Europe, the Middle East and China.