The Hungarian subsidiary of Messer Group (Bad Soden, Germany; www.messergroup.com) has finalized the purchase of Air Liquide Hungary Ipari Gáztermelő Kft. with the approval of the competition authority. Messer Hungarogáz Kft. will thus take over some 50 employees, as well as the fixed assets and customer relationships of Air Liquide. The fixed assets include an onsite air-separation unit, two nitrogen generators, a filling plant for gas cylinders, plus tankers, customer tanks and steel cylinders.
“The two companies complement each other ideally in terms of their activities and their organisational, operational and production structures. We see many synergies and positive effects with respect to production, logistics, sales and customer supply,” explains Stefan Messer, owner and CEO of the Messer Group, and adds. “Taking over Air Liquide Hungary Ipari Gáztermelő Kft. will enable us to enhance the reliability and flexibility of gas supply, shorten the delivery routes and increase our proximity to our customers and partners. We will further strengthen our position on the industrial gas market in Hungary. Our customers will also profit from this.” Messer will fully integrate and merge the two companies in the short term in order to boost efficiency. In the meantime, Air Liquide Hungary Ipari Gáztermelő Kft. will continue to exist unchanged under the name Messer Iparigáz Kft.
The acquisition fits Messer’s growth strategy – to continually strengthen its own production and supply capacities by means of developments. In the near future, there are plans to commission a new air-separation unit in Tiszaújváros to increase the production capacity of the CO2 plant in Ölbő, to set up further onsite nitrogen generators on customer premises and to develop and modernize the tank container and gas cylinder inventory.