Air Products serves customers in industrial, energy, technology and healthcare markets worldwide with a portfolio of atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, and equipment and services. 
It has key positions in growth markets such as semiconductor materials, refinery hydrogen, home healthcare services, natural gas liquefaction, and advanced coatings and adhesives. In 2009 it had sales of around $8bn and around 18,900 employees working in more than 40 countries.
History
The company was founded in 1940 with the concept of on-site production and selling of industrial gases, primarily oxygen.
Company movements
Please see Air Products seals nitrogen supply deal for Taiwan PV plant on ICIS news.
In September 2008, Air Products completed the sale of its US healthcare businesses, A&J Care and COPD Services, to Landauer Metropolitan. Financial terms were not disclosed.
In July 2008, Air Products completed the sale of its pressure sensitive adhesives and atmospheric emulsions businesses and related production facilities in Elkton and Piedmont to Ashland for $92m (€58m). The deal was first announced in June 2008.
In April 2008, Air Products bought a majority shareholding in UK specialist gas supplier CryoService. Air Products, which already had a 25% share in the company, did not disclose the financial details of the transaction.
In January 2008, the European Commission (EC) cleared Wacker’s takeover of two joint ventures with Air Products. This included full control of Wacker Polymer Systems (WPS), a producer of powders based on vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), and Air Products Polymers (APP), a producer of dispersions based on VAM. The deal was previously announced in December 2007.
Also in January 2008, Air Products completed the $75m (Euro52m) sale of its high purity process chemicals (HPPC) business to KMG Chemicals. The divested HPPC business included production facilities in Pueblo, Colorado, and Milan, Italy. The deal was previously announced in October 2007.
Other significant deals include:
In April 2007, Linde sold BOC's Polish gases activities BOC Gazy to Air Products and Chemicals for Euro370m ($481m).
In October 2006, Taminco acquired Air Products' American amines business, including plants at Pace, Florida, St Gabriel, Louisiana, and Camacari, Brazil.
Air Products comprises of three segments:
Chemicals
The chemicals business was founded in the early 1960s and now has operations in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Japan and Australia. This group is organised under two divisions: performance materials and chemical intermediates. Performance materials accounted for about two-thirds of the segment's sales.
Performance polymers, the largest product line in performance materials, uses VAM as its principal raw material.
Gases
The company's gases segment includes its industrial gases, healthcare, power generation and flue gas treatment businesses. The global healthcare business of the company is directed at two main markets: institutional and homecare. The institutional market uses medical gases in hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, as well as helium for use in magnetic resonance imaging.
The Gases segment involves three principal modes of supply: on-site/pipeline, liquid bulk and packaged gas. About one-third of the overall Gases sales come from the on-site and pipeline supply mode. Liquid bulk products make up about one-third of overall Gases sales, and the remainder of sales is made up of specialty and industrial cylinder gas supply for electronics, medical/homecare and other industries.
Equipment
The equipment segment designs and manufactures cryogenic and gas processing equipment for air separation, gas processing, natural gas liquefaction and hydrogen purification. The segment also designs and builds cryogenic transportation containers for liquid helium and systems for recovering gases using membrane technology.
Equipment is sold worldwide to companies involved in chemical and petrochemical manufacturing, oil and gas recovery and processing, power generation and steel and primary metal production. Equipment is also manufactured for the company's industrial gas business. Another important market, particularly for air separation equipment, is the company's international industrial gas joint ventures.
Air Products
Strategy & Financial Highlights
Air Products states that it is transforming itself into a “more focused, less cyclical, higher growth and higher return” company. The reorganising of Air Products is believed to be consistent with its strategy of “going forward”. (Edited from: “2008 outlook” and 10-K annual report 2007). ICIS also provides you with key financial data listed in table form.
More about Air Products Strategy & Financial Highlights
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