PolyOne Distribution Announces Global Expansion Into Asia

CLEVELAND, June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL) today announced that it will open a new polymer distribution warehouse and sales facility on July 1 in Shanghai, China. This marks the first entry point for PolyOne Distribution into Asia.  

"PolyOne Distribution is the market leader in less than truckload thermoplastics distribution in North America, and we have a backlog of customer requests to expand our distribution services globally," said Stephen D. Newlin, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "With our most recent investment in Asia, PolyOne Distribution is accelerating the globalization and customer service offerings of this very important platform."

PolyOne has emerged as a leading supplier of polymer materials, services and solutions in the healthcare industry and is recognized for its expertise in serving this market. Since 2006, our healthcare sales have expanded 95% and now represent over $250 million in annualized sales. PolyOne Distribution has led the Company's healthcare expansion and offers the broadest certified healthcare portfolio in the industry.  

Leveraging the Company's technical expertise in providing this market with unbiased and optimized solutions, the initial focus of PolyOne's investment in Asia will be servicing healthcare customers. However, the Company plans to broaden its Asia distribution service to customers in other industries over the next year.

"This new facility will immediately provide value to healthcare device manufacturers and processors in Asia," said Michael L. Rademacher, president, PolyOne Distribution. "Asia is a significant market for our global healthcare customers, and they will receive the same superior levels of customer service and selection from our industry-leading network of partners and suppliers that we maintain in the Americas."

About PolyOne

PolyOne Corporation, with 2010 annual 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, particularly in China; 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; 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