AquaLung

Aqualung, Apeks sold to Barings

The Aqualung business was established in 1943 after Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Émile Gagnan created the "Aqua-Lung." The business also owns the brands Apeks, Omer, Aquasphere, Stohlquist, and US Divers.

One of the top investment management firms in the world, Barings, is in exclusive talks to purchase 100 percent of the Aqualung Group. Barings is most known to the general public for the 1995 collapse of Barings Bank.

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“Air Liquide has a strong historical attachment to the business, but it’s not core,” Liberum analyst Adam Collins told Bloomberg at the time when Aqua Lung was put up for sale. “There is no strategic rationale in being part of the business.” Air Liquide is one of the largest global suppliers of gases to big industrial installations, like refineries, as well as to hospitals and patients.

AquaLung Sold To Private Equity Firm

It was the year that Air Liquide, along with Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan founded 'La Spirotechnique'. This company conceived, designed and manufactured a range of scuba diving equipment, including some of the first commercially available regulators. Their first modern 'Aqua-Lung' or regulator was the CG45.