A Giant Alliance between Toshiba and Carrier

On August 31 it was announced by Carrier Corporation on signing of a "memorandum of understanding" to form a strategic alliance with Toshiba Corporation. Toshiba is a leader in Japan for manufacturing residental and light commercial air conditioning, ventilation equipment and compressors. Year 1997 Toshiba airconditioning division had sales of $1.1 billion. Carrier is world largest manufacturer of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and equipment. Year 1997 sales $6.1 billion.

These two corporations will form a new corporation, Toshiba Carrier Corporation. The ownership will be 40% for Carrier and 60% for Toshiba.

This alliance will put together Carrier's and Toshiba's complementary product offerings and capabilities in technology innovation, manufacturing, quality assurance and sales and marketing. The headquarter of Toshiba Carrier Corporation will locate in Tokyo, Japan

General trend seems to be that more mergers, acquisitions and integrations will still be taking place in USA, Japan and Europe within HVAC indutry.