Two US investors have paid $120m (E100m) for the unit

Two US investors have paid $120m (E100m) for the unit

PolyOne has found a buyer for one of the three business units that it has put up for sale. The company will offload its elastomers and performance additives business to a group of US investors led by Lion Chemical Capital and ACI Capital for $120m (E100m). The deal should be completed in the third quarter of the year.

The elastomers business has six manufacturing facilities in North America and one near Manchester in the UK, which cost around Ј350,000 (E520,000) to set up earlier this year (PRW.com 5 May 2004). The business also has a proposed rubber compounding facility in China, due to open later this year.

PolyOne says that it intends to focus on plastics compounding, colour and additives masterbatch and distribution. The company expects to sell off two other business units – engineered films and speciality resins – by the end of this year.

The company has previously said that it will use the proceeds of the divestments to reduce debt.