Merger Talks between 2 Saudi Petrochemical Firms Resume after 10 Years

Part of the Saudi Petrochem projects that are engaged in merger talks with the Saudi Industrial Investment Group. Asharq Al-Awsat
Part of the Saudi Petrochem projects that are engaged in merger talks with the Saudi Industrial Investment Group. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Merger Talks between 2 Saudi Petrochemical Firms Resume after 10 Years

Part of the Saudi Petrochem projects that are engaged in merger talks with the Saudi Industrial Investment Group. Asharq Al-Awsat
Part of the Saudi Petrochem projects that are engaged in merger talks with the Saudi Industrial Investment Group. Asharq Al-Awsat

Talks to merge two Saudi petrochemical companies, which had been frozen for nearly 10 years, have resumed.

Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG) and the National Petrochemical Company (Petrochem) announced Sunday that they have begun talks over a potential merger.

The SIIG and Petrochem boards have approved initial discussions to study the feasibility of a merger but no agreement has been reached on any final structure of a merged entity, the companies said in separate statements.

They pointed out that if a deal is reached, it will be subject to the conditions and approvals of competent authorities, as well as the extraordinary general assembly of both companies.

SIIG owns 50 percent of Petrochem, but the two firms are similar in size, suggesting a deal would be a merger of near equals.

The two companies previously held merger discussions in 2011, with the talks eventually postponed to allow Petrochem’s facility at Jubail to reach production capacity and provide better valuations of the companies, SIIG said back then.

The Riyadh-based Petrochem has paid-up capital of SAR4.8bn riyals. It owns 65 percent of the Saudi Polymer Co, which permanently closed down its polystyrene (PS) manufacturing plant at the Jubail petchems complex in July and produced petrochemical products.

Arabian Chevron Phillips Petrochemical Co., wholly owned by CPChem, owns the remainder of Saudi Polymers Co.



US, Chinese Officials Start Geneva Talks on Easing Trade War

 US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, listens to the speeches, during a bilateral meeting between Switzerland and the United States, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, listens to the speeches, during a bilateral meeting between Switzerland and the United States, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
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US, Chinese Officials Start Geneva Talks on Easing Trade War

 US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, listens to the speeches, during a bilateral meeting between Switzerland and the United States, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, listens to the speeches, during a bilateral meeting between Switzerland and the United States, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

China's vice premier He Lipeng held talks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent early on Saturday in Geneva in a tentative first step towards defusing a trade war that is disrupting the global economy, according to China's state-owned news agency and two people close to the talks.
Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were due to meet He in Geneva after weeks of growing tensions that have seen duties on goods imports between the world's two largest economies soar well beyond 100%.
The trade dispute, combined with US President Donald Trump's decision last month to impose duties on dozens of other countries, has disrupted supply chains, unsettled financial markets and stoked fears of a sharp global downturn.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday an 80% tariff on Chinese goods "seems right," suggesting for the first time a specific alternative to the 145% levies imposed on Chinese imports.
The location of the talks has been kept secret, although a witness saw over a dozen police cars outside a private residence in a leafy Geneva suburb.
Mercedes vans with tinted windows were seen leaving a Geneva hotel where the Chinese delegation was staying on the banks of Lake Geneva.
Earlier, a delegation of over a dozen US officials, including Bessent and Greer, were seen smiling and wearing red ties and American flags on their lapels as they left their hotel. Bessent declined to speak to reporters.