On November 4, 2013, Taiyo Nippon Sanso (TNSC) acquired Sabah Oxygen of industrial gas manufacturer in Sabah of East Malaysia through NIG Malaysia which is an affiliate of Leeden of TNSC’s group company.

Sabah Oxygen is engaged in production and sales of industrial gases including oxygen and nitrogen, having an air-separation unit and filling stations in a sales scale of about 360 million yen, with three operation bases in Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan of Sabah, Malaysia.

According to Taiyo Nippon Sanso, the market size of industrial gases in Sabah is expected to be somewhere around 1.2 billion yen. Although the size is still small judging from the whole Malaysian market of 42.6 billion yen, the shipbuilding industry is rather busy.

At the moment Taiyo Nippon Sanso’s ratio of overseas business is about 30% including North America and Asia. With the acquisition at this time the company is to obtain a new market of industrial gases, and at the same time to aim for enhancement of sales and market share of disaster prevention equipment and tools as well as the industrial machinery and materials including Leeden-made welding supplies and materials, taking advantage of Sabah Oxygen’s sales channels.

In Sabah the local associate of Linde is also deploying its business.