On April 14, Air Water fully acquired for affiliation M1 Engineering of British cryogenic distribution equipment manufacturer, based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. It is the first time now that Air Water establishes a business base in Europe. Air Water intends to make M1 engineering a footstep to start the industrial gas and hydrogen energy related businesses in the area. 　
These years Air Water has been reinforcing the industrial gas business abroad. In North America it has been engaged in the acquisition of air-separation unit engineering and acquiring local distributing companies and also carried out the production and sales of carbon dioxide supply equipment as well as the cryogenic equipment production and sales.
In the field of cryogenic equipment, the liquid hydrogen tank business for filling facilities for FC forklifts is selling well. The tank is manufactured and sold by Taylor Warton America which became a member of the Air Water Group in November 2018 and has been supplying equipment since the early days of the FC forklift market aiming for penetration.
M1 Engineering has been engaged in manufacturing cryogenic tanks, tank trucks and containers for LNG. The company is operating all over Europe with a sales scale of about one billion yen (FY2022).
　As it is anticipated that there will be more applications utilizing hydrogen energy including green hydrogen in Europe, Air Water has been looking for a base for the development of cryogenic equipment. The acquisition has been discussed and proceeded in connection with the relations with Taylor Warton America. Air Water intends to produce and sell cryogenic equipment for supply chains of hydrogen energy also in Europe.