EUROPE – Daikin Industries, Ltd. has recently acquired the European refrigerant business sector from the major Belgian chemical group Solvay S.A. Solvay is a long-established chemical group which was founded in Brussels in 1863 while its refrigerant sector had a turnover of €53 million and is based in Frankfurt, Germany.
In Europe there is a major drive to convert to refrigerants with a lower environmental impact, largely due to the F-gas Regulation. As a consequence of this, Daikin is doing its part in the battle against global warming by promoting the widespread use of refrigerants with lower global warming potential (GWP) and minimal environmental impact while continuing to meet its obligations as the only company manufacturing both refrigerant and HVAC equipment, the company.
The acquisition of Solvay will provide Daikin with the opportunity to fully enter the refrigerant business in Europe, while also benefitting from a sound production base on the continent which will help it to achieve its stated goal. Daikin also plans to further expand its product lineup by including Solvay’s automotive refrigerant as it targets sales of 30 billion yen in the global refrigerant market for 2018.
Daikin will also enact plans over the 2015 fiscal year to help them achieve their objectives concerning global warming, including the recovery and reuse of refrigerant gas and the development of sustainable automotive refrigerants.
Currently, Daikin already has the capacity to provide a variety of fluorinated materials worldwide via its subsidiary Daikin Chemical France S.A.S., based in Lyon, France, as well as through its operations in Japan and China. Daikin is already known for supplying European automotive manufacturers with the advanced fluorinated materials needed to meet fuel permeation regulations and turbocharger applications among other uses.
Daikin also intends to use this acquisition to strengthen its existing relationship with European automotive manufacturers and to further expand sales of fluorinated materials to this industry by accelerating product development that best meets its customer needs.