03-06-2013

Air Products adds north America liquid CO2 product offering with EPCO acquisition

Expanding its portfolio of industrial gases offerings in North America, Air Products today announced it has acquired EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products, Inc., a privately-held producer and marketer of liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. The acquisition also includes Louisiana Leasing, Ltd. of Illinois, an affiliated company that owns liquid CO2 distribution assets that are solely leased to EPCO, and immediately vaults Air Products to a position amongst the leaders in the North American liquid CO2 market. The purchase price is not being disclosed.

“This acquisition is a good fit with our North American Merchant Gases set of core competencies. It also gives us immediate scale in a market that will allow us to capture additional sales of existing products by being able to offer an expanded product portfolio to existing and new customer accounts,” said Nelson Squires, vice president and general manager – North America Merchant Gases at Air Products. “We are pleased to be acquiring a company that demonstrated continued growth through the economic challenges of the past several years. EPCO’s geographic footprint overlaps nicely with our existing infrastructure such that we expect both cost and revenue synergy benefits.”

With this acquisition, Air Products adds liquid CO2 to its North American offerings through EPCO’s 12 CO2 purification and liquefaction plants located predominantly in the central portion of the United States. Liquid CO2, which Air Products already offers in its other geographic regions around the world, is an important product in markets Air Products currently serves with other merchant industrial gases including the Food, Beverage, Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Oil Field Services, and Metals Fabrication markets.

“Not only does this acquisition make Air Products a fully-integrated supplier of bulk industrial process gases, but a combined offering of liquid nitrogen and liquid CO2 is expected to strengthen our sales of liquid nitrogen in markets we already serve. Simply put, it increases our competitive offering with customers who require a broader portfolio of gases,” said Squires.

EPCO, established in 1987, had revenues of approximately $60 million in 2012 and was the largest North American independent liquid CO2 company. With approximately 170 employees, EPCO focused on the production and distribution of liquid CO2 for the Food and Beverage, Oil Field Services, and Chemicals markets.