CLEVELAND (Oct. 21)—PolyOne Corp. plans to divest its elastomers and performance additives activities as it refocuses itself on its global plastics compounding and color/additive masterbatch businesses. The company set no deadline for divesting the elastomers/performance additives, engineered films and specialty resins businesses, which together made up one-fourth of PolyOne's $2.5 billion in fiscal 2002 sales; elastomers/performance additives alone contributed $364 million in sales. Chairman and CEO Thomas A. Waltermire said the divestments are part of a broader strategy to improve performance and restore profitability. "This vision of a more tightly focused company complements our ongoing drive to achieve a competitive cost base," Waltermire said in a prepared statement. PolyOne said it would use proceeds from the divestitures to reduce debt; the firm set a goal of reducing debt by $200 million to $300 million.
PolyOne to sell elastomers unit, focus on plastics
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