US compounder and distributor PolyOne (Avon Lake, Ohio; www.polyone.com) has paid USD 120m to acquire Fiber-Line (Hatfield, Pennsylvania / USA; www.fiber-line.com). The company, founded in 1987, has since widened its presence internationally and now has five manufacturing or distribution sites for customised engineered fibres and composite materials on three continents. In Europe, it operates a wholly-owned subsidiary in Leeuwarden / The Netherlands, which began in 2005 as a regional distributor and later added manufacturing. In Asia, it has distribution facilities at Shanghai / China.

The Pennsylvania firm’s high-end portfolio extends to aramid, liquid crystal polymer (LCP), UHMW-PE and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-reinforced materials, among others. Fiber-Line also specialises in engineering specified performance characteristics for fibres, with emphasis on strength, abrasion and chemical resistance, in addition to speciality colourants. Adding the company’s revenues will swell PolyOne’s sales total by nearly USD 100m in 2019.

"Fiber-Line is an innovative and unique addition to our portfolio of fibre and composite solutions with tremendous upside for growth," said PolyOne CEO Robert Patterson. Integration of the new assets will give the Ohio player "an immediate leadership position in serving the build-out of fibre optic cable and future 5G networks," he said, while also adding formulation expertise and technologies complementing PolyOne's existing speciality composite solutions as well as wire and cable applications. "Longer term," the CEO said, "we expect future growth to be driven by significant technology synergies between fibre and composites, utilising speciality colourants and coatings, which PolyOne is well positioned to develop."