Hudson Technologies Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Airgas Refrigerants Inc. (ARI). The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year. 

Hudson Technologies is a provider of innovative and sustainable solutions for optimizing performance and enhancing reliability of commercial and industrial chiller plants and refrigeration systems. Airgas Refrigerants, a subsidiary of Airgas Inc., an Air Liquide company, is a refrigerant distributor and EPA-certified reclaimer in the United States.

“With the acquisition of ARI, we look forward to leveraging our strengthened capabilities, expertise and reach to meet the needs of an expanded customer base,” said Kevin J. Zugibe, chairman and CEO of Hudson Technologies. “We look forward to serving our existing and acquired customers with our expanded portfolio of products and services.”

“This will be a transformative acquisition for our company, enhancing our business by providing a complementary product portfolio, expanding our geographic footprint and customer base and significantly expanding our sales and distribution capabilities,” Zugibe added. “ARI is a prominent refrigerant distributor in the United States and we believe the combination of our operations will provide meaningful scale to our business and further enhance Hudson’s leadership in the refrigerant and reclamation industry.

“The increased scale of the combined company will allow us to better serve our customers during the ongoing phase out of HCFC refrigerants and positions us better to serve an expanded customer base during the future phasedown of HFC refrigerants,” Zugibe concluded. “Additionally, this acquisition gives us access to a significantly larger customer base and a new audience for our Global Energy Services offerings, a growing focus of our business which provide optimization solutions, engineering assessments and energy management tools.”

The transaction is valued on a gross basis at approximately $220 million, subject to closing and post-closing adjustments. It will be financed with available cash balances plus borrowings under an enhanced asset-based lending facility of $150 million from PNC Bank and a new term loan from funds advised by FS Investments and sub-advised by GSO Capital Partners LP of between $95 million and $110 million. No additional Hudson equity will be issued to finance this transaction.

Publication date: 9/5/2017

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