PolyOne exits the PVC resin production business

PolyOne, a legacy producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) through its Geon roots, announced today that it will sell its vinyl dispersion, blending and suspension resin assets to Mexichem for $250 million in cash. The business generated revenues of $147 million last year.

"Since we began our specialty transformation, we have divested commodity equity investments including Oxy Vinyls in 2007 and SunBelt in 2011 and reinvested the proceeds to accelerate the growth of our specialty offerings," said Stephen D. Newlin, chairman, president and chief executive officer, PolyOne Corp.  "As our only remaining business involved in the direct manufacture of base resins, we view the sale of our resin production assets as a natural and next step in the evolution of our portfolio." 

With 2012 revenues of $3 billion PolyOne Corp. has been steadily boosting its emphasis on higher-value compounds and applications.

PolyOne was created in 2000 from the consolidation of The Geon Co., the former BFGoordrich vinyl assets,  and M.A. Hanna Co., a resin distribution company.  In 1927, BFGoodrich scientist Waldo Semon produced the first usable vinyl polymer and in 1948, BFGoodrich created a vinyl plastic division. Geon was spun out as a public company in 1993.

PolyOne has long-term supply contracts with OxyVinyls for the majority of its PVC resin and all
of its vinyl chloride monomer. The PVC resin contract can be terminated by either party with a one-year notice. Geon Performance Materials is the leading North American vinyl formulator.

In 1998, Mexichem was selected as the new name for an industrial group made up of Química Pennwalt  and Polímeros de México. The strategic focus was business development in the chemical industry, especially in chlorine derivatives. Today Mexichem has revenues of more than $3 billion and is a leading producer of chlorine- and fluorine-based compounds in Latin America.

Mexichem launches a joint venture in May with state oil company Pemex to produce vinyl chloride monomer.