PolyOne to sell elastomer/additives business

PolyOne Corporation has signed an agreement to sell its Elastomers and Performance additives business to a private investor group led by Lion Chemical LLC and ACI Capital, Inc. The purchase agreement provides that PolyOne will be paid a gross amount of approximately $120 million. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.<br>
The Elastomers and Performance Additives business is based in Solon, OH and consists of five manufacturing facilities in the United States, one in Mexico and one in the United Kingdom. Revenues for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004 were $349 million, which represents 13.5% of PolyOne’s total sales. <br>
“Our Elastomers business unit is the largest of the businesses we targeted for divestment last year,” said Thomas Waltermire, CEO of PolyOne. “We are satisfied we negotiated a fair value and we plan to apply the proceeds to debt reduction.”<br>
A spokesman for Lion Chemical said the Elastomer unit’s current management team will remain in place.<br>