BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Saudi Arabian Basic Industries (SABIC) won permission from the European Commission on Wednesday to buy the European bulk chemicals unit of U.S.-based Huntsman Corp. in a deal worth $700 million.

“The Commission concluded that the operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area,” the EU executive said in a statement.

State-controlled SABIC, the largest listed company in the Arab world, said the assets were a good fit with its existing European operations and would allow it to gain scale on the continent.

The deal is the first acquisition in four years for the Saudi group, which is 70 percent owned by the state and 30 percent by investors in the kingdom and other Gulf Arab countries.