Honeywell to Acquire Air Products' Liquefied Natural Gas Process Technology and Equipment Business
Honeywell and Air Products recently announced that Honeywell has agreed to acquire Air Products’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) process technology and equipment business for €1.67 billion ($1.81 billion) in an all-cash transaction. This represents approximately 13x the estimated 2024 EBITDA.
Honeywell’s acquisition will enable a comprehensive solution for customers’ energy transformation, including natural gas pre-treatment, advanced liquefaction, and digital automation technologies. This will enhance the efficient, reliable management of natural gas assets. The addition of Air Products’ LNG process technology and equipment, including coil-wound heat exchangers, will further strengthen Honeywell's current global pre-treatment solution for LNG. These exchangers offer high throughput, robustness, and safety for both onshore and offshore operations.
“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,” said Vimal Kapur, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell. “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.”
“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 decarbonize industrial and heavy-duty transportation sectors,” said Air Products’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Seifi Ghasemi. “The LNG business is a great business and at its strongest point in its decades-long history thanks to the outstanding work of our people, and they will be in good hands to advance as part of Honeywell’s related portfolio of technologies.”
The LNG market has quadrupled over the past 20 years and is expected to double over the next 20, driven by demand in key end markets including power and data centers. Air Products’ LNG Business has headquarters in Allentown, Pennsylvania and a 390,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Port Manatee, Florida. This is Honeywell’s fourth acquisition this year, aligning with automation, aviation, and energy transition trends. The transaction, expected to be earnings accretive in the first year, is set to close by year-end, pending regulatory approvals.
