BUSINESS MEMO: SPARTECH ACQUISITION

Spartech Corp., headquartered in St. Louis, has entered into an agreement to acquire the stock of Polycom Huntsman Inc.

Polycom Huntsman is a supplier of proprietary polymer compounds, color and additive concentrates and toll compounding services, offered to a diversified number of customers in North America and Europe.

"We're enthusiastic about the prospect of added Polycom's nine strategically located manufacturing facilities to Spartech's color and specialty compounds group," said Spartech President and Chief Executive Officer Bradley B. Buechler.

"This acquisition will significantly expand the group's geographic coverage, add strong technological leadership, expand product capabilities and improve operating efficiencies throughout our color and specialty group," he said.

Polycom's annual production capacity, said Buechler, is about 500 million pounds. The company's annual sales are about $115 million.

"We anticipate that this acquisition, which has an approximate $135 million purchase price, will be accredited to our earnings per share immediately," said Buechler

Additional terms of the acquisition will be disclosed when the transaction is completed.

Spartech is a leading producer of engineered thermoplastic materials and polymeric compounds and annually produces more than 625 million pounds of extruded sheet and rollstock, specialty plastic alloys, compounds and color concentrates.

Spartech has 26 facilities, including two operations in Cape Girardeau -- Spartech Plastics at 2500 Spartech Drive and Spartech Compounding on Nash Road.