FACTBOX: Abbott buys Solvay's drugs unit

(Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories said it would buy the drugs unit of Solvay in a 4.5 billion euros ($6.6 billion) deal giving Abbott full control of its Belgian development partner's cholesterol treatments and exposure to emerging markets.

Following are facts about Solvay and Abbott:

SOLVAY:

Key Sectors - Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals and Plastics:

Group Sales - 9.49 billion euros (2008)

Pharmaceuticals - 2.6 billion euros

Chemicals - 3.03 billion euros

Plastics - 3.9 billion euros

Pharmaceutical segments:

Cardiometabolics, Neuroscience, Flu vaccines, Pancreatic enzymes, Gastroenterology and Female and male hormones

Pharmaceutical segment sales (2008):

Cardiometabolics - 812 million euros

Neuroscience - 411 million euros

Flu vaccines - 137 million euros

Pancreatic enzymes - 217 million euros

Gastroenterology - 243 million euros

Female and male hormones - 648 million euros

Headcount (2008):

Pharmaceuticals - 9,660

Chemicals - 8,966

Plastics - 8,816

ABBOTT:

Key sectors - Pharmaceuticals, Nutritional products, Medical products:

Pharmaceuticals - Key therapeutic areas include immunology, cardiology and infectious diseases

Nutritional Products - Offers nutrition products for infants, children, active adults and patients with special dietary needs.

Medical Products - Key businesses include vascular, laboratory and molecular diagnostics, vision care and diabetes.

Group Sales (2008) - $29.5 billion

Medical - $7.2 billion

Nutritional - $4.9 billion

Headcount - 72,000

Source: Reuters/Company reports

(Writing by Carl Bagh, Bangalore Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by David Cutler)