PolyOne to sell elastomers unit, focus on plastics

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.