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Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) has completed a transaction to divest its engineering thermoplastics business in the Americas and Europe to German venture capital and private equity firm Mutares, for an enterprise value of $450m.

Sabic’s Americas and Europe engineering thermoplastics business produces polycarbonate, polybutylene terephthalate and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resins and compounds, and operates manufacturing sites in Mt Vernon, Bay St Louis and Burkville in the US; Ottawa, Canada; Tampico, Mexico; Campinas, Brazil; Cartagena, Spain; and Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands.

The divestment process was initiated by Sabic in January this year and marks a significant milestone in the company’s broader portfolio optimisation programme.

“The transaction supports Sabic’s continued focus on exiting structurally underperforming assets, reducing cash losses, improving return on capital employed and maximising long-term shareholder value,” the Saudi chemicals giant said.

The divested business reported an operating loss of approximately $498m for full-year 2025, and approximately $173m for the first half of this year.

On a pro forma basis, the carve-out of the engineering thermoplastics business improved Sabic’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) margin by approximately 130-140 basis points, “reflecting the positive impact of the transaction on the company’s overall profitability and portfolio quality”.

In addition to agreeing the sale of its engineering thermoplastics business in January, Sabic also began a process to divest its European petrochemicals business to Aequita for an estimated enterprise value of $500m.

Aequita is a Munich-based venture capital and private equity firm.

Sabic’s European petrochemicals business produces and markets ethylene, propylene, low- and high-density polyethylene, polypropylene and value-added polymer compounds, and operates manufacturing sites in Teesside, the UK; Geleen, the Netherlands; Gelsenkirchen, Germany; and Genk, Belgium.

Q2 2026 financial results

Sabic reported a net loss of $100m for the second quarter of 2026, which it attributed to the impact of the Iran-US regional conflict on its business.

The company had only returned to profit in the first quarter, registering a net income of $3.52m, after posting a full-year 2025 loss of $6.87bn.

The Saudi petrochemicals giant also said Q2 2026 revenue fell 5% year-on-year to $6.62bn.

Sabic posted adjusted Ebitda of $900m for the three months to 30 June, a drop of 18% compared to the previous quarter.

Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes in Q2 also fell by 72% quarter-on-quarter to $110m, while adjusted earnings per share stood at $0.03.

Saudi Exchange-listed Sabic said its net debt position remained largely unchanged at $730m at the end of June, compared with $740m at the end of March.

READ THE AUGUST 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

Saudi Arabia builds for the global stage; Rising uncertainty creates fresh set of challenges in the Maghreb; Gulf banks remain robust in the face of geopolitical tensions.

Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the August 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes: