Honeywell to buy Air Products’ LNG business for $1.81bn

Honeywell said on Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Air Products’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) process technology and equipment business for $1.81bn in cash.

As a result of the deal, Honeywell said it will be able to offer customers a "comprehensive, top-tier solution for managing their energy transformation journey".

Currently, Honeywell provides a pre-treatment solution serving LNG customers globally. It said 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 chairman and chief executive Vimal Kapur said: "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."

Air Products’ LNG business has about 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 deal, which is expected to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share in the first full year of ownership, is due to close before the end of the calendar year.