For a yet undisclosed amount but as early as the fourth quarter of 2016, Sabic (Riyadh / Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com) plans to sell the semi-finished products business Polymershapes (www.sabicpolymershapes.com) belonging to its subsidiary Sabic Innovative Plastics (Sabic IP) to investment company Blackfriars Corporation (Northbrook, Illinois / USA). This is what both enterprises have agreed now, according to news agency Reuters.

According to its own statement, Polymershapes is the world’s leading supplier of semi-finished plastics products. It mainly sells plastic sheet, rods, tubes and films in North America and Chile. The segment was created in 2001 when the former GE Plastics took over large parts of semi-finished products distributors Commercial Plastics and Cadillac Plastics and integrated them into the GE group (see Plasteurope.com of 15.05.2001). For GE Plastics buyer Sabic, the division has never been part of its core business; consequently, it is now being sold in the course of Sabic IP’s liquidation (see Plasteurope.com of 09.10.2015).

Blackfriars is the investment vehicle of the Colburn family, whose billion dollar fortune originates from electrics and construction materials wholesaler Consolidated Electrical Distributors (www.cednw.com). The Blackfriars portfolio also includes the renowned semi-finished plastics parts distributors Laird Plastics (Irving, Texas / USA; www.lairdplastics.com) and Amari Plastics (Weybridge / UK; www.amariplastics.com). Amari Plastics, in turn, owns the well-known continental European semi-finished plastics parts distributor Vink (Zeist / The Netherlands; www.vink.com).