On October 1, Air Water took over Kobe Steel’s shares in Shinko Air Water Cryoplant (SAC) a joint venture of the two companies. The JV is now a fully-owned affiliate of AWI changing its name to Air Water Cryoplant.

　SAC was established in 2004 between Kobe Steel which was strong in the production of large-sized air-separation plant and Air Water which was striving for small-sized plants, aiming to integrate Air Water’s cryogenic air-separation technologies with the investment rate of 60% by Kobe and 40% by Air Water.
So far AWI’s technology and knowhow have been effectively utilized for large-sized cryogenic air-separation equipment like steel maker’s on-site plants.
Considering the possibilities to further utilize SAC’s large-sized ASU technology base for its onsite business with the steelmaker acquired in India in 2019 and the gas engineering business in the USA, Air Water has come to take over the shares after discussing with Kobe Steel.

The Japanese manufacturers of ASU plants in which large steelmakers and electric equipment manufacturers had been involved have now completely converged into three industrial gas manufacturers Taiyo Nippon Sanso, Air Liquide Japan and Air Water.