LA VERNIA, TX — PowerCold Corp. has announced the acquisition of Applied Building Technology Inc. (ABT), a St. Petersburg, FL-based supplier of complete HVAC packages for standard-sized commercial buildings such as national chain businesses. Specific terms were not disclosed.

“PowerCold has entered the small commercial HVAC application market with the acquisition of ABT,” said Frank Simola, PowerCold CEO. “This is a perfect fit for our evaporative condensers and ABT’s desiccant air conditioning units. PowerCold has gained an excellent strategic distribution network. ABT is being merged into PowerCold’s wholly owned subsidiary Ultimate Comfort Systems as an operating engineering division.”

Simola also says that the merger will give PowerCold a strong engineering and design staff with veteran technical and service personnel.

“ABT is the approved Burger King Vendor for supplying a combination HVAC and desiccant system and/or evaporative coolers to its franchises and company restaurants,” said Bob Yoho, president for Ultimate Comfort Systems. “In humid regions such as coastal areas the desiccant package is used to reduce humidity. In dry areas, evaporative coolers are used to reduce electric power costs. The ABT system reduces overall HVAC power costs by 15% to 20%, while producing a comfortable dining and working space for customers and employees.”

Publication date: 08/12/2002