JEDDAH, 8 December 2005 — The Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (CMA) approved yesterday the initial public offering (IPO) of 35 percent of shares in Saudi Basic Industries Corp.’s (SABIC’s) affiliate Yanbu National Petrochemicals Company (YANSAB) on the Saudi market. The amount of IPO is about SR2 billion of the total company’s capital, which exceeds SR5.6 billion.

The IPO, which will be managed by Samba Financial Group, opens for public subscription on Saturday, Dec. 17, and will be closing on Tuesday, Dec. 29. The starting price per share will be its listed par value of SR50. The minimum is 10 shares and the maximum is 5,000 shares.

In addition to the 35 percent public offering, SABIC owns 55 percent of YANSAB shares. SABIC’s partners in IBN RUSHD and TAYF including national and regional establishments and companies own 10 percent.

Mutlaq Al-Morished, vice president corporate finance said, “YANSAB, which is currently under construction at Yanbu Industrial City, will be one of the world’s largest petrochemicals complexes with an annual capacity exceeding four million tons. It is expected to go on stream by 2008. This is part of SABIC’s plan to reach a total annual capacity of 60 million tons to maximize its contribution to national development programs and enhance SABIC’s competitive capabilities in the global markets.

“Samba is proud to be selected lead manager for the YANSAB shares public offering and financial consultant to SABIC,” Eissa Al-Eissa, managing director and CEO of Samba, said. “SABIC is one of the Kingdom’s economic and industrial landmarks. With the effort of its management, SABIC was able to foster the strength of the Saudi economy and build up a global sound reputation for national products.”

Al-Eissa reaffirmed that Samba has taken all necessary measures to effectively complete the public offering process. Unprecedented demand is expected in view of subscribers’ trust in SABIC and in anticipation of the prosperous future of YANSAB.

Meanwhile, SABIC yesterday signed a contract with Technip Italy for the engineering, procurement and construction of an ethylene and propylene plant at the YANSAB Complex in Yanbu Industrial City.

On Monday, SABIC signed a contract with Japanese Toyo Engineering Corporation (TEC) for the engineering, procurement and construction of an Ethylene Glycol plant at the same site.

The two contracts were signed by Yousef Al-Zamel, vice president, basic chemicals, and chairman of YANSAB on behalf of SABIC, Nello Uccelletti, CEO, Middle East and Southeast Asia on behalf of Technip Italy, and Kenji Soejima for TEC in the presence of Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC vice chairman and CEO, and Yutaka Yamada, TEC president and CEO.

“The signing of these two contracts is a significant boost toward the major implementation of operations at the YANSAB affiliate which is expected to become one of the world’s largest petrochemical industrial complexes. It will enhance SABIC’s competitive capabilities with production starting in 2008,” Al-Mady said.

“YANSAB is the most recent SABIC affiliate in Saudi Arabia and will be the company’s largest petrochemical complex with an annual capacity exceeding four million tons of various petrochemical products including 1.3 million tons of Ethylene, 400,000 tons of propylene, 900,000 tons of polyethylene, 400,000 tons of polypropylene, 700,000 tons of ethylene glycol, 250,000 tons of benzene, xylene and toluene, and 100,000 tons of butene-1 and butene-2. “YANSAB is expected to employ 1,500 people in phase I and phase II. This will create promising job opportunities for Saudis. YANSAB uses the latest world-class state-of-the-art technologies in its plants, including SABIC license-owned technologies such as the new high-tech process of converting aromatic compounds to benzene and the production of polyethylene.”

SABIC’s profit rose to a record SR14.2 billion ($3.8 billion) in 2004, a 112 percent increase on 2003 and the company’s highest profit since inception. Sales revenues for 2004 totaled SR68.5 billion ($18.3 billion), an increase of 47 percent on revenues in 2003 making SABIC the largest and most profitable public company in the Middle East.