Chart Industries builds equipment for the liquid gas value chain, from liquefaction and cryogenic storage through regasification and heat exchange. Revenue reached $4.3 billion in 2025 across customers in more than 50 countries. Europe holds a large share of the engineering and manufacturing base, anchored by Chart Ferox in Děčín and Howden operations across 35 countries.
In February 2026, the company appointed Arja Talakar as President Europe, following a search run by Christian & Timbers.
The European Energy Mandate
European gas infrastructure was rebuilding around imported LNG and floating regasification. Hydrogen and carbon capture projects were converting from pilots into ordered equipment, while data center power and cooling had started pulling cryogenic and thermal management products into a market with little history of buying them.
All of this sat inside a company with a pending $13.6 billion sale to Baker Hughes, a departing CEO and an open competition file in Brussels. European customers commit to multi-year delivery schedules and lifecycle service agreements. Order timing in the region would move on one question: whether the leadership signing those commitments would still be there to honor them.
Christian & Timbers was retained to find an operator with European industrial P&L ownership, aftermarket experience, and a record of carrying businesses through ownership change.
Talakar spent 23 years at Siemens, with assignments spanning the United States, Germany, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. He led Siemens Saudi Arabia before becoming CEO of Siemens Oil & Gas in Houston in 2019. He later served as CEO of Dresser-Rand and Senior Vice President of Industrial Applications at Siemens Energy, where his work included integrating the business and repositioning it around energy-transition markets. His final Siemens assignment focused on platform challenges at Siemens Gamesa and customer confidence.
What the Role Covered from Day One
Talakar took responsibility for Chart's European operating base across its cryogenic and heat-transfer products and Howden's air and gas handling portfolio. The service network attached to the installed fleet came with it.
Aftermarket carries the margin quality behind the combined portfolio, representing over 30% of pro forma revenue at roughly 42% gross margin. During 2025, Chart added 703 new customers, while Uptime asset connections rose 29% and service agreements increased 21% year over year. Talakar had already built global aftermarket services businesses across several Siemens markets. That experience mapped directly to one of Chart Europe's largest recurring revenue opportunities.
Results in the First Two Quarters
Chart closed the first quarter of 2026 with backlog at $6.28 billion, the highest in company history and up from $5.14 billion a year earlier.
European Cryo Tank orders ranked among the strongest categories in the quarter, alongside small-scale LNG and data center demand in Heat Transfer Systems. Chart's modular regasification systems also drew fresh contract activity through the spring as floating storage and regasification projects moved forward. The European base continued serving liquefied biogas refuelling and hydrogen applications, with additional demand tied to nuclear.
On July 10, 2026, the European Commission approved the Baker Hughes transaction with conditions. Chart agreed to divest its proprietary and small-scale LNG process technology and make ten-year interoperability commitments covering third-party LNG equipment.
The acquisition closed. Baker Hughes completed the purchase on July 16, 2026, at $210 per share, roughly $13.6 billion in enterprise value. Chart became a third Baker Hughes operating segment covering air and gas handling, thermal management and lifecycle services, with a cost synergy target of $325 million by year three.
Chart's board and most executive officers ceased their roles at the effective time of the merger. Talakar continues as President Europe.
Timeline
- February 2026: Arja Talakar appointed President Europe at Chart Industries
- May 11, 2026: Q1 backlog reaches a record $6.28 billion; European Cryo Tank orders among the strongest categories
- June 2026: Modular LNG regasification wins draw renewed attention to Chart's energy infrastructure portfolio
- July 10, 2026: European Commission clears the Baker Hughes transaction with conditions
- July 16, 2026: Baker Hughes completes the $13.6 billion acquisition; Chart becomes a third operating segment with a $325 million synergy target
- August 2026: Talakar remains President Europe inside the new structure
Placing Leadership Ahead of a Transaction
Most searches assume a stable org chart. Chart Europe offered a departing CEO, an open regulatory file, an acquirer with a declared synergy program and a European energy equipment business expected to keep booking and shipping through all of it.
With more than 2,000 CEO and board placements and 5,000+ C-suite assignments completed, Christian & Timbers built the search around the transaction itself. Candidates were assessed for experience running industrial businesses through integration and maintaining customer confidence during ownership change. Talakar had done both at Siemens.
Chart now sits inside Baker Hughes with exposure to gas infrastructure, hydrogen, nuclear, carbon capture, geothermal and data center demand. Chart entered the Baker Hughes structure with Talakar still leading Europe, following a quarter in which the company's backlog reached a record $6.28 billion.
