US private equity investment group SK Capital Partners has signed a definitive agreement to buy PolyOne’s Performance Products & Solutions (PP&S) business for around $775 million.

PP&S is a global provider of formulated PVC and PP-based solutions as well as contract manufacturing services, primarily serving the North American construction and automotive industries. The business generates annual sales of about $700 million.

“PP&S is a market leader with a rich heritage in the PVC and polypropylene compounding industry,” said Jack Norris, one of SK Capital’s managing directors. “We are excited about the opportunity to further strengthen the business through both growth and improvement initiatives, similar to how we’ve approached several other investments that were corporate carve-outs."

Commenting on the sale, PolyOne’s chairman, president and CEO Robert Patterson, said: “We conducted what became a very competitive bidding process for our PP&S segment. Ultimately, we determined that divesting the business to SK Capital Partners would provide greater flexibility to accelerate our specialty growth strategy and is in the best interest of customers, employees and shareholders.”

He added that. in the short-term, the sale proceeds will be used to pay down debt. “Longer term, we can further refine our focus on investing in and growing our three remaining segments Specialty Engineered Materials, Color, Additives and Ink, and Distribution,” Patterson said.

PolyOne expects to record a pre-tax gain of approximately $600 million when the sale completes, which is anticipated during the fourth quarter of 2019.