PolyOne Announces Acquisition of Fiber-Line

CLEVELAND, Jan. 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL), a premier global provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, today announced the acquisition of Fiber-Line, a global leader in customized engineered fibers and composite materials for $120 million.

Founded in 1987, Fiber-Line has utilized its customer-centric culture and specialty innovation to establish a leading portfolio of materials serving the fiber optic cable, oil & gas, industrial and consumer industries.  With five manufacturing locations in North America, Europe and Asia, Fiber-Line provides material science and polymer formulation expertise to engineer specified performance characteristics for fiber.  These include strength, abrasion and chemical resistance, and specialty colorants.

"Fiber-Line is an innovative and unique addition to our portfolio of fiber and composite solutions with tremendous upside for growth," said Robert M. Patterson, chairman, president and CEO, PolyOne Corporation.  "They provide an immediate leadership position in serving the build out of fiber optic cable and future 5G networks." 

Mr. Patterson added, "This acquisition represents a significant investment for our Specialty Engineered Materials segment.  We expect it to add nearly $100 million in revenue in 2019 and be immediately accretive to EPS."

Fiber-Line's leading technologies complement PolyOne's existing specialty composite solutions and wire & cable applications.  PolyOne will utilize its proven invest-to-grow integration strategy to increase innovation for Fiber-Line customers, by leveraging deeper formulation expertise and a global commercial presence that accelerates growth.

"Joining the PolyOne team represents another important and exciting milestone for Fiber-Line employees and our valued customers," said Dale Outhous, CEO, Fiber-Line.  "Through PolyOne's future investments in Fiber-Line's technical capabilities, operations and commercial reach, we will be able to serve our customers better than ever before."

Mr. Patterson added, "We're very excited to welcome Dale and his accomplished Fiber-Line management team to PolyOne.  Through increased collaboration with customers, we'll capture both near-term growth prospects as well as benefit from the expansion of 5G networks.  Longer term, we expect future growth to be driven by significant technology synergies between fiber and composites, utilizing specialty colorants and coatings, which PolyOne is well positioned to develop."

About PolyOne

PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL), with 2017 revenues of $3.2 billion, is a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions. The company is dedicated to serving customers in diverse industries around the globe, by creating value through collaboration, innovation and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Guided by its Core Values, Sustainability Promise and No Surprises Pledge^SM, PolyOne is an ACC Responsible Care® certified company committed to its customers, employees, communities and shareholders through ethical, sustainable and fiscally responsible principles. For more information, visit www.polyone.com.

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: our ability to identify and evaluate acquisition targets and consummate acquisitions; the ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses into our operations, such as Fiber-Line, PlastiComp, IQAP, Rutland, Mesa, Comptek, SilCoTec, Gordon Composites and Polystrand, including whether such businesses will be accretive, retain the management teams of acquired businesses, and retain relationships with customers of acquired businesses; 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; 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 and laws and regulations regarding the disposal of plastic in jurisdictions 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 and employee productivity goals; an inability to raise or sustain prices for products or services; our ability to continue to pay cash dividends, including at the increasing rate, which will be subject to, among other factors, market conditions, our cash flow and cash requirements and restrictions contained in any of our debt agreements; 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.

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SOURCE PolyOne Corporation

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