Expanding its portfolio of industrial gas offerings in North America, Air Products, Allentown, Pa., acquired EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products, Inc., a privately-held producer and marketer of liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) headquartered in Monroe, La. The acquisition also includes Louisiana Leasing Ltd., Moline, Ill., an affiliated company that owns liquid CO2 distribution assets that are solely leased to EPCO.

“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,” says 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 food and beverage markets.

“Not only does this acquisition make Air Products a fully integrated supplier of bulk industrial process gases, but [also] 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,” says Squires.