FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Geismar, LA - Lion Copolymer Holdings, LLC (Lion) announced Monday that it has completed its acquisition of Ashland Elastomers, LLC in Port Neches, Texas from Ashland Inc. The company will be renamed Lion Elastomers. With the acquisition, Lion will be a leading merchant provider of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) in the United States.

"We are excited to be back in the SBR business,” Jesse Zeringue, president of Lion stated. “We believe that the facility in Port Neches is a tremendous upgrade from our former SBR plant and will allow us the ability to enhance our product portfolio with high quality products that meet customer needs both now and in the future."

"The addition of the hot Emulsion SBR (ESBR) product line dovetails nicely with Lion's specialty low molecular weight EPDM products sold in similar market segments. The combined businesses serve to further strengthen Lion as a world class elastomer company,” Zeringue said.

Vijay Goradia, chairman of Goradia Capital added, “We are now focused on growing Lion, while at the same time acquiring companies that no longer fit the plans of larger chemical companies. This acquisition fits our strategy for both Lion Copolymer Holdings and Goradia Capital.”

Goradia Capital is the investment and management arm of the Goradia family based in Houston, Texas.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Lion Copolymer Holdings:
Marketing Director:
Yuka Kimoto
publicrelations@lioncopolymer.com