Shell’s UK arm has acquired two fluid manufacturing brands in a bid to expand its offering to the renewable electricity, battery and electric vehicle sectors.
Shell (LON:SHEL) announced the acquisition of the MIDEL and MIVOLT product ranges from Manchester-based M&I Materials, with a view to incorporating them within its Shell Lubricants business.
The former manufactures a range of natural and synthetic ester fluids – an alternative to conventional transformer oils – used for power distribution, offshore wind farms, utilities and traction power systems.
Meanwhile, MIVOLT’s ester-based immersion cooling fluids are used in the development of thermally efficient electric vehicle batteries, battery energy storage systems and data centres.
Shell said the addition of the brands would complement its “differentiated position” in transformer oils, and would support its Powering Progress strategy which sees it work with customers and across sectors to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions.
The deal will see current product owner M&I Materials Ltd carve out the MIDEL and MIVOLT businesses into M&I Materials Development Ltd, which Shell will then acquire in full, with completion eyed for Q4 this year.
M&I Materials Ltd will continue to operate its other business lines.
M&I Materials Ltd chairman, Colin Salt said: “Ester fluid manufacturing has been a huge part of M&I Materials Ltd for over 45 years and a source of pride for everyone involved in developing this technology which customers in many markets worldwide have come to specify and trust.
“We want to see the growth potential for both MIDEL and MIVOLT realised and we believe Shell is uniquely positioned to take them forward and on to their next stage of development.”
Celebrating the acquisition in a LinkedIn post, Shell UK chairman David Bunch hailed the products as “key technology that operates in some of the harshest conditions.”
“I’m delighted that Shell UK will acquire Midel and Mivolt, to broaden our range of lubricants that specialise in these applications and keep those turbines turning,” he added.
Shell executive vice president for global lubricants, Jason Wong said: “The addition of the MIDEL and MIVOLT premium product ranges to our portfolio acknowledges the growing ester fluid market and will help Shell Lubricants meet customer needs in the renewables and power sectors.
“Most importantly, we expect the outstanding technical knowledge and application expertise of their people will add huge value to Shell Lubricants.”
