Dow, Kuwait to base joint venture in Michigan

DUBAI (Reuters) - An $11 billion joint plastics venture between Dow Chemical Co (DOW.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and a unit of Kuwait Petroleum Corp will be based in Michigan, the two companies said in a statement on Sunday.

The venture will be named K-Dow Petrochemicals and the chief executive will be James Fitterling, currently business group president at Dow's plastics division, the companies said.

Dow's headquarters are in Midland, Michigan. The site of the new headquarters has yet to be decided but would be somewhere in the southeast of the U.S. state.

The two teamed up for the 50-50 joint venture in January, in a deal that will link the Middle East oil producers' vast energy supplies with Dow's industry-leading market reach.

The joint venture will manufacture and sell chemicals used in products ranging from plastic bottles, compact disks and computers to agricultural compounds and have expected sales of $11 billion at its inception.

Dow's links to the Kuwaiti company go back a decade to the EQUATE joint venture. The two companies have also joined forces through their MEGlobal and Equipolymers joint ventures in 2004.

With the deal, Kuwait will increase its reach further down the chain of products that are derived from its oil and gas.

(Reporting by Simon Webb; editing by )