Honeywell has agreed to acquire Air Products' liquefied natural gas (LNG) process technology and equipment business for $US1.81 billion in an all-cash transaction.
As a result of the acquisition, Honeywell will be able to offer customers a comprehensive, top-tier solution for managing their energy transformation journey.
The new holistic offering will encompass natural gas pre-treatment and state-of-the-art liquefaction, utilising digital automation technologies unified under the Honeywell Forge and Experion platforms.
This full-service solution will enable efficient, reliable and optimised management of natural gas assets, delivering unparalleled value and support, Honeywell said.
Currently, Honeywell provides a pre-treatment solution serving LNG customers globally.
Air Products' complementary LNG process technology and equipment business consists of a comprehensive portfolio, including in-house design and manufacturing of coil-wound heat exchangers (CWHE) and related equipment.
CWHEs provide the highest throughput of natural gas in a single exchanger with a small footprint and robust, reliable and safe operations both onshore and offshore.
Honeywell CEO & chair, Vimal Kapur, said that while the world continues to build the renewables-based energy infrastructure of the future, natural gas is a critical lower-emission and affordable transition fuel that will help meet ever-increasing and dynamic global energy demands.
"This highly complementary acquisition will further strengthen our energy transition portfolio, and Air Products' CWHE technology will immediately expand our installed base - creating new opportunities to compound growth in aftermarket services and digitalization through our Honeywell Forge platform," Kapur said.
Air Products chair, president & CEO, Seifi Ghasemi, said the LNG business is at its strongest point in decades and it will be in good hands to advance as part of Honeywell’s related portfolio of technologies.
"The decision to divest our LNG heat exchanger technology and equipment business reflects Air Products' continued focus on its two-pillar strategy -- to grow our core industrial gas business and related technology and equipment, and to be a first-mover delivering clean hydrogen at scale to decarbonise industrial and heavy-duty transportation sectors," he said.
The LNG market has quadrupled over the past 20 years and is expected to double over the next two decades, driven by demand in key end markets including power and data centres according to Deloitte.
The president & CEO of Honeywell’s Energy and Sustainability Solutions (ESS) segment, Ken West, said the integration of this talented team and the acquired proprietary technologies will enable Honeywell UOP to bring a full spectrum of scalable solutions and services that help their global customers navigate the complex journey to more sustainable and efficient energy practices.
Air Products' LNG Business has approximately 475 employees with headquarters in Allentown, Pennsylvania and a 390,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Port Manatee, Florida, where all sizes of CWHEs are made.
This is the fourth acquisition Honeywell has announced this year as part of its disciplined capital deployment strategy.
The transaction is expected to close before the end of the calendar year.