(Yicai) Dec. 14 -- Haier Smart Home, a unit of Chinese home appliance giant Haier Group, plans to purchase the commercial refrigeration business of Carrier Global for about USD640 million.

Haier Smart Home's subsidiary will buy Carrier Refrigeration Benelux from its parent firm Carrier Global by acquiring 100 percent of the equity interest in Carolin Holdings, the Qingdao-based company announced today.

Before the completion of the deal, Haier Smart Home and Carrier will enter into a series of strategic cooperation and trademark licensing agreements for the former to be licensed to use the latter's trademark Carrier globally in relation to Carrier Refrigeration Benelux for two years and a proprietary trademark for the target firm that reflects the distinctive features of Carrier and Commercial Refrigeration globally for 16 years, Haier Smart Home noted.

The acquisition of Carrier Refrigeration Benelux will help Haier Smart Home extend its application scenarios to food retail refrigeration and cold storage from household refrigeration, expand its business deployments in Europe, create synergies, and improve its market competitive positioning, the company added.

"Carrier Commercial Refrigeration is a preeminent global enterprise with respected brands, leading technology, and an experienced workforce dedicated to providing best-in-class solutions to customers globally," said Li Huagang, chairman and chief executive officer of Haier Smart Home.

"The acquisition will help Haier Smart Home establish its commercial refrigeration platform, enabling the company to capture additional growth opportunities by expanding its presence to food retail refrigeration and cold storage," Li noted.

Carrier Refrigeration Benelux counts refrigeration cabinets, mechanical systems used in the food retail sector, carbon dioxide refrigeration mechanical systems, and associated services used in cold storage facilities among its main products. It reported USD1.2 billion in operating revenue and USD58.1 million in net profit last year.

"Following our decision to exit the commercial refrigeration business and a robust competitive process, we identified Haier Smart Home as the right fit to grow the business moving forward, building upon our successful 22-year refrigeration partnership with them," said David Gitlin, chairman and CEO of Carrier.

Shares of Haier Smart Home [SHA: 600690] were trading up 0.2 percent at CNY20.21 (USD2.85) as of 10.55 a.m. in Shanghai today.

Editor: Futura Costaglione