50 Top Gulf companies

Arabian Business ranks the top 50 publicly traded companies across the Gulf by market value and profiles the leading players making headlines across the region.

The Top 50 ranks the top publicly traded companies listed on the stock exchanges of the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Jordan. Market capitalizations are represented in dollar equivalents and are based on the closing prices of the stocks on June 22nd, 2008, using Bloomberg data.

1 Sabic

$120.6 billion

Saudi Arabia

The surging cost of crude oil has helped Saudi Basic Industries Corp cement its position as the biggest publicly traded company in the region.

Formed over three decades ago to turn the waste gases that were once burned off at the wellhead into valuable petrochemicals, the company better known as Sabic has extended its global reach with operations across Europe, North America and Asia.

The world's largest chemical maker by market cap is now eyeing the massive plastic-consuming market of China for the next chapter in its phenomenal growth story.

Under the stewardship of CEO Mohamed Al-Mady, Sabic has added high-value plastics to basic chemical commodities and plans to tap surging demand for plastics in China as the US market slows down.

Sabic, which is 70% government-owned, bought the GE plastics unit last year in the largest-ever purchase by a company based in the Gulf.

The Sabic empire grew from manufacturing ethylene and other petrochemicals from ethane which it buys from state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco. Most of its rivals outside the region use naphtha, a more expensive feedstock that is linked to the price of crude oil.

The surging price of oil has benefited Sabic while hurting its rivals in Europe, North America and Asia that rely on more expensive feedstocks.

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