Chart Industries, Inc., (CSA CSM) announced on November 2 it had completed the acquisition of the microbulk cryogenic tank intellectual property, equipment, and other assets from IC Biomedical (“ICB”), a private entity. Chart acquired the business from IC Biomedical upon ICB’s acquisition of these assets and the cryobiological assets of Worthington Industries. Additionally, on November 13, the company announced the completed acquisition of the Theodore AL cryogenic trailer and hydrogen trailer (transport) assets of Worthington Industries, Inc. This acquisition includes ownership of the Theodore manufacturing site, all trailer-related intellectual property, manufacturing capabilities, equipment and repair backlog. The facility has approximately 300,000 square feet under roof adjacent to the Port of Mobile, and the associated employees will join the Chart team.

ICB will focus on their cryobio life science business, and in turn, sold Chart the microbulk cryogenic tank business originally developed by the former Taylor-Wharton. This acquisition expands Chart’s distribution and storage cryogenic tank product offering for both industrial gas majors and independent distributors and provides for an ongoing supply arrangement to provide microbulk products to IC Biomedical for their non-cryobiological equipment needs.

The acquisition adds a unique, highly engineered food processing tank to Chart’s specialty product offering. These tanks are used in food plants to inject liquid nitrogen into the blending process of chicken nuggets. “The addition of the former Worthington Taylor-Wharton microbulk tanks to our product offering is another step in our strategy to add complementary equipment to our core, unique cryogenic capabilities,” stated Jill Evanko, Chart Industries CEO and president. “Additionally, it adds another highly engineered specialty product to support our customers in their desire for a one-stop shop, expanding the breadth of our offering on many long-term agreements.”

The Worthington acquisition will produce strong synergies by combining Chart’s deep knowledge of cryogenics and liquid hydrogen storage and handling with the Theodore operation’s expertise and experience in the packaging and assembly of liquid hydrogen trailers. The addition of the trailer business to Chart’s hydrogen equipment and solution offering expands the company’s mobile equipment to larger sized transports and brings another location already certified by significant hydrogen customers. Expected Chart hydrogen-related revenue from this facility in 2021 is $15 to $20 million with upside potential to $30 million in 2021.

“Owning this strategically located site near the Port of Mobile will grow our manufacturing capacity for Chart’s LNG products including tender cars for locomotive fueling and onboard storage tanks for marine fueling applications and expand our repair, service and leasing footprint (plenty of products to roll into this site—pun intended!),” added Evanko. “In particular, we will be able to provide expanded options for our North, Latin and Central American customers, including shorter lead times of our ISO containers for LNG built in our Changzhou, China, facility and stored onsite in Alabama.”