Airgas, Inc. has acquired Pain Enterprises Inc., an Indiana-based producer and distributor of dry ice and carbon dioxide for the food and beverage industry, hospitals, and industrial and chemical manufacturers. It has 20 locations and more than 140 employees across the Midwest.

The terms of the purchase have not been announced.

Pain Enterprises was established in 1957 as a welding supply business. In addition to welding gases, it expanded to offer CO₂ and other compressed gases. Pain’s cylinder line grew into microbulk CO₂ supply for beverage carbonation, and eventually into a substantial bulk liquid CO₂ manufacturing and distribution operation.

Pain added dry ice production and distribution in 1977, and has grown that business steadily, too.

Airgas is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases, and hard goods, including welding equipment and supplies, and one of the largest U.S. distributors of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants, and ammonia products.

The Pain operations — including bulk liquid carbon dioxide and dry ice manufacturing plants, a dry ice manufacturing plant, and 17 bulk liquid carbon dioxide and dry ice distribution depots — have been integrated into the Airgas Carbonic and Airgas Dry Ice business units.

“Acquiring Pain Enterprises significantly expands our dry ice and liquid CO₂ business throughout the Midwest,” stated Phil Filer, president of Airgas Carbonic and Airgas Dry Ice. “We see increased opportunities for expanding our Penguin Dry Ice brand into new geographies and more retail locations, additional growth for liquid CO₂ and dry ice within Airgas' national accounts business, increased support with more reliable sourcing of CO₂ for our Airgas National Carbonation and Airgas regional company beverage carbonation business, and the immediate expansion of Airgas Carbonic production capabilities.”