PolyOne Corporation’s ( POL - Snapshot Report ) subsidiary, ColorMatrix, announced it would open a new facility in South Africa to serve customers throughout Africa.

The new facility, located in the Montague Gardens industrial precinct in Cape Town, is expected to be operational from August 2012. PolyOne will initially supply, from this facility, liquid colorants, additives and dosing equipment for customers who manufacture products such as PET containers for the beverage and personal care markets.

Even though the new operation will initially focus on ColorMatrix products and services, this will serve as a platform to showcase and promote other PolyOne businesses and services in this region.

PolyOne had acquired ColorMatrix Group, Inc., a highly specialized company with a premier suite of additive technologies with a leading market position in liquid colorants, in December last year. The acquisition helped PolyOne to harness its potential in the specialty business and expand globally. It in fact marked a significant milestone in PolyOne’s transformation to a global, specialty company.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2012, PolyOne posted record sales of $781 million, up 9% year over year. Earnings per share rose 12% to 29 cents in the quarter. Growth in North America, Asia and accretion from the ColorMatrix acquisition helped offset weakness in Europe.

PolyOne is expected to accelerate growth and entrench its leading market position as the company leverages ColorMatrix’s proprietary technology and PolyOne’s commercial resources on a global scale.

PolyOne Corporation is a leading provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions. Headquartered outside Cleveland, Ohio, PolyOne has operations around the world. It competes with A. Schulman, Inc. ( SHLM - Snapshot Report ) , Ferro Corp. ( FOE - Snapshot Report ) and Georgia Gulf Corp. ( ) . The stock retains a quantitative Zacks #3 Rank (short term Hold rating).