Cold chain firm Sofrigam buys Coldway

FRANCE: Pharmaceutical cold chain specialist Sofrigam, has acquired Coldway, a French company manufacturing stand-alone absorption refrigeration solutions.

Coldway, based in Pia, southern France, was placed into receivership at the end of June 2018 after 17 years in business. 

Coldway is the creator of an adsorption system relying on the thermochemical reaction between ammonia and salts to produce cold or hot energy, store it and make it available on demand, regardless of the desired power output. It is said to be capable of creating cold conditions in a totally self-contained manner for up to 60 hours. With neither a motor nor a compressor, the system is silent, ecologically sound, low-maintenance and is not subject to wear.

Sofrigam became acquainted with the Coldway technology in 2016 when the two companies collaborated on a range of temperature-controlled shipping containers featuring the Coldway technology.

“We wanted to purchase Coldway for two reasons: the potential for business synergies and the desire to keep Coldway’s technologies in France,” explained Sofrigam chairman and MD Gilles Labranque.

Sofrigam specialises in the design and manufacture of insulated packaging for safeguarding the transportation, within the cold chain, of products from the pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnological and cosmetic industries.