PolyOne sells stake in chlor alkali maker Sunbelt to Olin for $175M

CLEVELAND, Feb. 28, 2011 (PRNewswire-FirstCall) - PolyOne Corporation announced today the sale of its 50% ownership interest in SunBelt Chlor Alkali Partnership to Olin Corporation.

SunBelt, a chlor alkali manufacturer, is a 50/50 joint venture formed in 1996 between PolyOne (formerly The Geon Company) and Olin. PolyOne's stake in SunBelt was sold to Olin for $175 million, including $132 million in cash and the assumption of PolyOne's guarantee of $43 million of SunBelt debt, with an additional earn out over the next three years if certain performance metrics are achieved.

"I am pleased with the completion of this strategic win / win transaction for both Olin and PolyOne," said Stephen D. Newlin, chairman, president and chief executive officer of PolyOne. "I would like to thank Olin for the many years of cooperative partnership we have enjoyed together and wish them well as they integrate SunBelt into their operations." Newlin added, "For PolyOne, the sale of SunBelt represents another step in our transformation and portfolio repositioning as we intend to use the proceeds to accelerate specialty platform growth."

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.