PolyOne Finalizes Acquisition of ColorMatrix Group

CLEVELAND, Dec. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL), a premier global provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, today announced it has completed the acquisition of ColorMatrix Group, Inc., a highly specialized company with a premier suite of additive technologies and the leading market position in liquid colorants.

"This acquisition marks a significant milestone in PolyOne's transformation to a global, specialty company," said Stephen D. Newlin, chairman, president and chief executive officer, PolyOne Corporation. "We're proud and excited to welcome all ColorMatrix employees and customers who have joined the PolyOne family."

"We have said before that this is a game-changer for PolyOne, as we now expect to derive more than 50% of our earnings from our specialty platform. I am confident that we will be able to accelerate growth and expand our leading market positions as we leverage ColorMatrix's proprietary technology and PolyOne's commercial resources and global scale."

ColorMatrix is a leading manufacturer of performance-enhancing specialty additives, liquid colorant and dosing technologies that serve diverse niche markets, such as rigid beverage and food packaging, performance molding and fiber. The ColorMatrix leadership position in technology is evidenced by an intellectual property portfolio of 162 patents and 107 pending applications worldwide. Its solutions in packaging, in particular, offer customers exceptional performance attributes such as increased product shelf life, taste preservation and improved recyclability.

Further, ColorMatrix is a leading provider of colorant for fluoropolymers and provides specialty additives that support fluoropolymers' unique high-performance properties such as lubricity, high-level heat insulation, static dissipation and x-ray opaqueness. Through its April 2011 acquisition of Gayson, ColorMatrix expanded its portfolio to include enhanced speed-to-market, custom color dispersions used in silicone processing for a broad range of medical, consumer and automotive applications.

In connection with the acquisition, PolyOne secured a new $300 million Term Loan B, replaced its expiring accounts receivable securitization facility with a new $300 million asset-based revolving credit facility, and redeemed its remaining 2012 senior notes. 

"There was substantial investor interest in our new credit facilities, and I am pleased that we were able to secure both at better than expected rates," said Robert M. Patterson, executive vice president and chief financial officer, PolyOne Corporation. "I attribute this to our strong track record of free cash flow generation and the significant improvement in the underlying mix of our earnings, the majority of which will now come from our specialty platform."

The new $300 million, six-year Term Loan B has an initial coupon of 5.00% with an all in yield of 5.60% inclusive of original issue discount and fees. The five-year revolving credit facility is undrawn and has current availability of approximately $150 million.

About PolyOne

PolyOne Corporation, with 2010 revenues of $2.6 billion, is a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions. Headquartered outside of Cleveland, Ohio USA, PolyOne has operations around the world. For additional information on PolyOne, visit our Web site at www.polyone.com.

To access PolyOne's news library online, please go to www.polyone.com/news.

Forward-looking Statements

In this press release, statements that are not reported financial results or other historical information are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements give current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not guarantees of future performance.  They are based on management's expectations that involve a number of business risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements.  They use words such as "will," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial condition, performance and/or sales.  Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the credit markets that could adversely impact the availability of credit already arranged and the availability and cost of credit in the future; the financial condition of our customers, including the ability of customers (especially those that may be highly leveraged and those with inadequate liquidity) to maintain their credit availability; the speed and extent of an economic recovery, including the recovery of the housing and chlor-alkali markets; our ability to achieve new business gains; the effect on foreign operations of currency fluctuations, tariffs, and other political, economic and regulatory risks; changes in polymer consumption growth rates where we conduct business; changes in global industry capacity or in the rate at which anticipated changes in industry capacity come online; fluctuations in raw material prices, quality and supply and in energy prices and supply; production outages or material costs associated with scheduled or unscheduled maintenance programs; unanticipated developments that could occur with respect to contingencies such as litigation and environmental matters; an inability to achieve or delays in achieving or achievement of less than the anticipated financial benefit from initiatives related to working capital reductions, cost reductions, employee productivity goals and our new global organization structure; an inability to raise or sustain prices for products or services; an inability to maintain appropriate relations with unions and employees; the inability to achieve expected results from our acquisition activities; the ability to successfully integrate ColorMatrix and achieve the expected results from the acquisition, including the acquisition being accretive; the ability to retain Color Matrix's management team and its relationships with customers; and other factors affecting our business beyond our control, including, without limitation, changes in the general economy, changes in interest rates and changes in the rate of inflation.  The above list of factors is not exhaustive.

We undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.  You are advised to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our reports on Form 10-Q, 8-K and 10-K that we provide to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE PolyOne Corporation