MHI to Establish Subsidiary to Oversee Air-Conditioning Business in Europe

MHIAE will be established as a wholly owned subsidiary of MHIE operating from a new head office in Stockley Park near Heathrow Airport. In addition to taking over the sales and marketing operations for home-use ACs and commercial-use packaged ACs from MHIE the new company will also take charge of heat-pump type hot-water supply systems and large-size centrifugal chillers currently handled by MHI's Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Systems business headquarters in Japan. With these products, MHIAE will proactively explore markets for home- and commercial-use air-conditioning and hot-water supply systems in the area covering Europe and CIS, including Russia.

In the European market where demand for hot-water heating systems is robust, MHIAE will not only market heat pumps and other high-efficiency equipment, but also introduce optimal equipment combinations suited to each customer's operating environment and usage conditions. MHIAE will also establish a facility that will serve as both a product showroom and an after-sale service training center to enhance solution-oriented, proposal-based marketing activities.

In supplying AC units, MHIAE will establish a direct order/supply relationship with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-Mahajak Air Conditioners Co., Ltd. (MACO), a MHI air-conditioning equipment production base in Thailand. This arrangement will enable MHIAE to rapidly supply product responding to fluctuations in the market environment.

In a quest to expand its AC&R business in overseas markets, MHI has been strengthening its sales structure for related products by progressively establishing new companies dedicated to AC&R business independent of the firms that have traditionally handled all MHI business within their designated regions. The establishment of MHIAE is part of this ongoing initiative. To date, in 2009 MHI established Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Air-Conditioners Australia, Pty. Ltd (MHIAA) in Sydney to oversee AC&R business in the Oceania region; in 2010, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Air-Conditioners (Shanghai) Co., Ltd (MHIAS); and in 2011, MHI Residential Air-Conditioners (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (MHIRS), a home-use AC marketing and after-sale service company jointly established with one of China's major home appliance retail chains. The new operations have already achieved significant results.

Going forward, MHI aims to expand its share in this fiercely competitive global market by pursuing synergy effects from its strength as a comprehensive AC&R system manufacturer and from the dynamic marketing activities enabled by the establishment of companies like MHIAE dedicated to AC&R sales and servicing.