Honeywell Inc. (Charlotte, North Carolina) has reached agreement to acquire Air Products’ (Leigh Valley, Pennsylvania) liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment business for $1.81 billion. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year. The price represents a multiple of 13 times the unit’s estimated 2024 EBITDA.

The business consists of in-house design and manufacturing of coil-wound heat exchangers (CWHE), which provide the highest throughput of natural gas in a single exchanger as well as a small footprint and reliable operations both onshore and offshore, Air Products said.

“The integration of this talented team and the acquired proprietary technologies will enable Honeywell UOP to bring a full spectrum of scalable solutions and services that help our global customers navigate the complex journey to more sustainable and efficient energy practices,” Ken West, president and CEO of Honeywell’s energy and sustainability solutions segment, said.

The business has approximately 475 employees with its headquarters in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and a 390,000-square-foot CWHE manufacturing facility at Port Manatee, Florida.

“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 CEO Seifi Ghasemi.

Air Products currently has 11 megaprojects in its pipeline, with 8 of them being for sustainable hydrogen, including the Edmonton blue hydrogen project, expected onstream in second-half 2025; its Saudi Arabian green ammonia facility, expected online in 2026; and its Louisiana blue hydrogen project to come online in 2027.

Investment bank Jefferies LLC (New York) expects the sale will not have a major effect on Air Products’ earnings per share for 2024, with only fourth-quarter EPS declining from an estimated $3.70 per share to $3.60 per share. It does, however, expect revenue to drop 3% for full-year 2025 and for full-year 2025 EPS to drop 2%.