The boards of Linde and Praxair voted on Thursday to merge, creating a $73 billion global industrial gases leader in what is likely to be the last in a wave of combinations that has resulted in a highly consolidated market.
The deal combines US firm Praxair’s operational efficiency and strength in the Americas with the leading technology of Germany’s Linde and its strong presence in Europe and Asia, overtaking main competitor France’s Air Liquide.
News of the merger, which will reunite a global Linde group that was split a century ago by World War One, sent Praxair shares in the United States to a record high.
The all-share merger of equals, which still has to be approved by 75 percent of Praxair’s shareholders, represents a triumph for Linde’s Wolfgang Reitzle, a former chief executive who returned as chairman to seal the deal.
Reitzle, who effectively discarded Linde’s former CEO and finance chief to push through the merger after a failed attempt last year, was spared from having to use his casting vote as chairman when labour opposition crumbled at the last minute – as reported by Walls Street Journal on Wednesday.
Full Content: Wall Street Journal
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