In a bid to capitalize on the growing global homecare market, Air Liquide Thursday announced it had acquired two companies, one in Australia and the other in South Korea. Air Liquide, the world’s third biggest and Europe’s biggest homecare company said the acquisitions are part of its expansion strategy seeking to grow and develop its provision of services via targeted acquisitions in a variety of markets.

Air Liquide said it had acquired a 70% stake in the Australian company, Snore Australia, one of the country’s foremost companies in the sleep diagnosis segment. According to the Australian firm, its diagnoses have been crucial in the diagnosis and assessment of the levels of disorders in conditions like sleep apnea.

Snore Australia was established about a decade ago and estimates have placed its annual diagnoses at about 15,000 sleep diagnoses per annum in the thirteen sleep laboratories it operates. Currently, it employs 72 people and has yearly revenue generation pegged at 5.6 million euros.

Snore Australia has estimated that the country has about 480,000 individuals who have sleep disorders, sleep apnea particularly, and that only about 25% of this number has been diagnosed.

Vice President of Liquide’s Healthcare World Business Line and Healthcare operations, Pascal Vinet said the company was pleased to have made these acquisitions as it expects them to make its operations robust and reinforce its presence in the Australian healthcare market.

As such, he said the company would welcome the new employees from the acquired companies, reiterating the company’s plans targeting strategic acquisitions for which he said serve as a sign of its growth strategy. Terming the acquisitions as “successive,” the vice president said its healthcare business stands to gain a lot from its development plan that seeks to expand its international network to fresh, high potential markets.

As such, the healthcare market, according to him, presents one of the strongest and most promising growth drivers for Air Liquide and more investments will be taken akin to these ones. At the same time, Air Liquide said it had acquired another 70% of Medions Homecare, as well South Korea’s biggest player in the country’s home ventilation segment.

The company’s vice president reiterated that the Korea acquisition was also crucial in Air Liquide’s global expansion strategy and offers a fresh market to foray into. The South Korean firm was established in 1989 and currently provides treatment services to about 400 patients, with estimated yearly revenues of 3 million euros.

23 July 2010.