December 14, 2007 -- General Electric Co.'s aviation subsidiary has ordered 55 passenger jets from Boeing Co., the companies said Thursday.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Boeing said the list price for 53 single-aisle 737-800s and two extended-range versions of the widebody 777-300 is $4.5 billion, but customers typically negotiate steep discounts.

The order, which Boeing added to its online-order tally last week, was previously attributed to an unidentified customer.

GE Commercial Aviation Services, GE's U.S. and Irish commercial aircraft financing and leasing business, is the world's largest owner of 737s. It currently has 309 of the single-aisle planes on order.

In other corporate deals, Dow Chemical plans to sell a 50 percent interest in five of its global businesses to a Kuwaiti company for about $9.5 billion and form a new joint petrochemicals venture, the world's second-largest chemical company said Thursday.

Dow said the transaction with Petrochemical Industries Co., a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp., is subject to the completion of definitive agreements and regulatory approvals. Dow expects the deal to close in late 2008.

The joint venture will be based in the U.S. and employ more than 5,000 people worldwide, mostly current Dow employees, the company said.

It will manufacture and market polyethylene, polypropylene and polycarbonate plastics, and ethylenamines and ethanolamines. Amines are a family of chemical compounds with a broad range of properties that are used in various applications, including wood treating, pharmaceutical processing and coatings.

The value of Dow's five global businesses that will form the joint venture is about $19 billion, it said.

"This joint venture, after it closes, day one and beyond, will be the player in the petrochemical field," Andrew Liveris, Dow's chairman and chief executive, said during a teleconference with industry analysts.

For Kuwait Petroleum, the deal will help maximize the value of its resources while helping to diversify Kuwait's economy, said CEO Saad Al-Shuwaib.

Source: Orlando Sentinel