Alfa Laval, Inc., Richmond, Va., signed an agreement to divest its air heat exchanger business, currently placed in the greenhouse division, to the LU-VE Group, Italy.

Alfa Laval’s commercial/industrial air heat exchangers moved to the greenhouse division in 2016 to improve performance.

“This business has made big improvements the last two years both in terms of growth and profitability,” says Tom Erixon, president and CEO, Alfa Laval Group. “However, we concluded it would have even better opportunities to continue developing under the ownership of the LU-VE Group.”

“Alfa Laval’s commercial/industrial air heat exchangers will fit perfectly into the strategic design of growth and qualification of the LU-VE Group. With the acquisition, the group will be among the three largest global operators in the sector. It will reinforce our capability to offer services and components of high quality and reliability,” adds Iginio Liberali, president of LU-VE.

The agreement to divest the commercial/industrial air heat exchanger business to LU-VE Group will affect about 400 employees, mainly based at the production sites in Italy, Finland and India.

Alfa Laval will continue to supply air heat exchangers for heavy process industry applications and other types of heat exchangers for the HVAC and refrigeration industry.

Earlier this year, Alfa Laval sold its heat exchanger systems business, also part of the greenhouse division, to the NIBE Group, Sweden.