UK/INDIA: Indian refrigerant manufacturer SRF says it has agreed to acquire Mexichem UK’s HFC125 manufacturing business.
The $10.125m sale includes all assets and related technical know how for the refrigerant which, along with R32, is a major component of R410A. It is also a component in a number of lower GWP refrigerant blends, as well as R407C.
SRF says it plans to relocate the assets from Runcorn to lndia and set up manufacturing at its chemical complex in Dahej, Gujarat.
Currently the only Indian manufacturer of R134a and R32, both of which it has developed using indigenous technology, SRF’s acquisition will provide it with manufacturing capabilities for all three major HFCs. It will also become the only Indian company to have fully integrated blending capabilities to offer R410A and R407C.
R125 will be marketed under SRF’s Floron brand.
In a statement, SRF said: “This acquisition is in line with the strategic direction of the company to further strengthen the company’s position in the high growth refrigerants market.”
As well as broadening the company’s portfolio, SRF says it will now become “one of the very few producers in the world to be fully backward integrated”. This, it says will lead to greater efficiencies.
There has so far been no statement from Mexichem.
Mexichem UK is the former UK arm of the INEOS Fluor (before that ICI) business which Mexichem acquired in 2010. At the time, the Runcorn site was Mexichem’s first commercial-scale HFC134a production plant. In 2006 it made the transition to production of HFC125.
