Stefan Messer (Messer Group), Eduardo Gil Elejoste (Nippon Gases Europe) and Bernardo Sestini (SIAD Group) will all take to the gasworld stage in Hungary this summer.
Four additional speakers have also been revealed as part of the event launch.
To be held at the New York Palace hotel in Budapest from 2-3rd June, the Summit will explore A Market Redefined in Europe’s gases industry.
Stefan Messer, Owner and CEO of the family-run Tier One player the Messer Group, is confirmed to be the Summit’s Closing Keynote speaker and will share his insights into the group’s 2018/19 acquisition of former Linde assets in the US, Brazil, Colombia and Canada – as well as a commitment to the European market that is arguably stronger than ever.
The group’s acquisition of substantially all of Linde’s US bulk business and its business in Brazil, Canada and Colombia, together with CVC Capital Partners, marked a return to the Americas market after a 14-year absence. Within days of the news breaking in July 2018, Stefan Messer told gasworld, “This is certainly the biggest decision I have ever made in my life and it will be the major milestone of our 120 years company history.”
Stefan Messer: The biggest decision I have ever made
Now, Messer himself will take to stage to shed more light on that life-changing decision and explain why, at the same time, the company is as excited as ever about its native Europe market. In the last few weeks alone, the company has announced it is in exclusive talks to purchase Air Liquide business entities in Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Another headline speaker at the Europe Industrial Gas Summit will be Eduardo Gil Elejoste, President of Nippon Gases Europe.
Born out of divestments of the Praxair-Linde mega-merger when Japan’s Taiyo Nippon Sanso (TNSC) acquired the majority of Praxair’s businesses in Europe, Nippon Gases Europe was immediately elevated among the four major industrial gas companies in Europe. It marked a triumphant entry into the European market for TNSC and the new business has continued to invest in its operations since.
As President of Nippon Gases Europe, Gil will provide the event’s official Opening Keynote talk and describe the company’s Vision for Europe.
A mainstay of the European industrial gases market through the decades, but also with renewed vigour in recent years, is Italy-based the SIAD Group. The company, formerly a venture with Praxair, was another beneficiary of the industry’s mega-merger of 2018 and regained full independence as it bought out the remaining Praxair shares in the group.
Now, emboldened by its newfound autonomy and unrelenting zest for the gases business in Europe, the SIAD Group is busy building upon its activities in the region and recently brought its latest ASU on-stream in the Hungarian market.
CEO Bernardo Sestini will take to the stage in Budapest to discuss the group’s success and its continued commitment to the European industrial gases summit.
Commenting on the announcements, gasworld Global Managing Editor Rob Cockerill enthused, “I think this has to be one of the best launches we’ve had for a gasworld event.”
“We’re delighted and honoured to be welcoming not one, not two, but three major leaders in the European gases business and that speaks volumes for both gasworld conferences and the dynamic new era that the Europe market finds itself in.”
“This is a time of considerable change in the region, as reflected in our agenda. The face of the market has very visibly evolved at the hands of M&A activity, and the industry itself is embarking on new paths forward in terms of applications and how it leverages the opportunities presented by digitisation. We’re delighted that we’ll be hearing from some of the most esteemed figures in the European industrial gases business, and particularly the insights of Stefan Messer from his unique position in the industry.”
Hot topics
Cockerill is among four other early speaker reveals for the Summit, set to discuss Digitisation – 2020 and Beyond in the event’s Hot Topics session.
Also confirmed are Cockerill’s colleague at gasworld Karina Kocha, Business Intelligence Manager, the Messer Group’s Tim Evison, and Pentair Union Engineering’s Henrik Lyhne.
Evison will discuss investments in Eastern Europe, in more ways than one, as he explores the dual challenges of not just building business opportunities in the region but the responsibilities of building societal growth too.
Lyhne, meanwhile, will continue the discussion around the European carbon dioxide (CO2) business and the wider global CO2 industry trends in his presentation titled CO2 and the Circular Economy. Kocha will provide an update on the regional industrial gas landscape in Europe and the growth opportunities.
Further speaker announcements will be made in the coming weeks.
A Market Redefined
gasworld returns to Budapest this summer to pick up the baton of previous conferences in the region in 2015 and 2016, and look at how the European industrial gases business is, on so many levels, A Market Redefined.
The very face of the market has been redefined over the last two years as the mega-merger of Praxair, Inc. and The Linde Group has seen the arrival of Nippon Gases Europe in the region, and the SIAD Group move to full independence. Behind the very visual face of the market, there is also significant change at both an application and operational level.
Supply chains are evolving and diversifying, with the high-profile CO2 business a prime example of an industry striving for greater sourcing security. Applications are evolving and emerging, while the clean energies transition is about to change society and the economy as we knew it. Europe is at the heart of this. Meanwhile, the wave of digitisation is changing the way the industry thinks and operates, a transition in itself that is widely expected to accelerate in 2020 and the next few years ahead.
All of which means it’s time to re-appraise where the European industrial gases business stands today – where the challenges and opportunities are, what it takes to be successful in the region, and what new applications are driving the market forward.
For more information and ways to participate, visit www.gasworldconferences.com or call +44 1872 225031.