Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), the world’s largest chemicals company by market value, said a subsidiary had borrowed $855 million in an Islamic loan to finance expansion.

Saudi European Petrochemical Co, also known as Ibn Zahr, borrowed the money under a murabaha facility from a consortium of Saudi and international banks, Sabic said in a statement.
Sabic owns 80 per cent of Saudi European, which is expanding an existing polypropylene plant in Al-Jubail to add 500,000 tonnes of capacity by January 2009, a Sabic official said.