Chart Industries buys Fronti Fabrications
The acquisition will increase Chart under-roof cold box fabrication capabilities.
Chart Industries, Inc. completed the acquisition of Fronti Fabrications, Inc. (a specialist for the cryogenic and gas industries) for $20 million.
With over 20 years of experience in liquefaction, heat exchangers and cold boxes, Fronti adds a known team to expand Chart’s cold box manufacturing capacity and capability, including work currently underway on Chart hydrogen and helium liquefiers.
Given its continued demand for Big LNG, small-scale LNG and hydrogen/helium liquefaction, having more than one US cold box fabrication facility (in addition to its New Iberia, Louisiana location) adds agility and capacity to improve its delivery lead times further and be prepared for the anticipated increase in demand in the coming years.
Fronti’s vacuum cold box fabrication experience and its facility in a key geographic location for cryogenics immediately allow us to optimize its manufacturing under the “One Chart flex manufacturing” umbrella. This increases its under-roof cold box fabrication capabilities by approximately 25% as well as provides additional capacity for battery assembly, perlite cold box fabrication, and specialized vessel and skid fab capabilities to serve its global customers. We will also use this location for repair and services staging, as it is very convenient to its United States industrial gas customers’ installed base.
Jill Evanko, Chart’s CEO and President, said, “The acquisition of Fronti brings another cryogenic industry partner into the Chart portfolio, expands our cold box manufacturing capability and capacity, and creates the foundation for our mid-Atlantic (Allentown, Pennsylvania) flexible manufacturing location.”
Joe Fronti, President of Fronti Fabrications, said, “I look forward to not only continuing to grow our cold box project base but also having our Allentown, Pennsylvania location become a key part of Chart’s flexible manufacturing footprint.”
Fronti Fabrications is a specialist in engineering, machining and welding for the cryogenic and gas industries, and also supplies new build pressure vessels and performs repairs with certification to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) code.
