US-based Dow Chemical Company has announced plans to construct a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to produce a range of polymers for coatings and water treatment applications in Saudi Arabia at an investment of over $100 million.

Located in the PlasChem Park in Jubail, the coatings facility will serve the needs of the Saudi market with a range of acrylic-based polymers for industrial and architectural coatings and water treatment and detergent applications.

The new coatings facility will complement Dow’s existing coatings capabilities in the Middle East, which include a facility at Jebel Ali, in Dubai, UAE.

Apart from the waterborne polymer facility, the company has also signed an agreement for a feasibility study related to a proposed investment in the company’s Performance Silicones franchise.

“Dow has been a long-term strategic partner in Saudi Arabia for nearly four decades and is the largest foreign investor in the country,” remarked Andrew Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer, after signing the agreements at a recent event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The proposed silicones investment is expected to include constructing a fully-integrated siloxanes and high-performance silicones complex.