Linde To Sell Assets In The Americas To Messer Group, CVC Capital For $3.3 Bln

German gas and engineering company Linde AG (LDE.L,LNAGF.PK) said it has entered into an agreement to sell the majority of its gases business in North America and certain business activities in South America to a consortium comprising companies of German industrial gases manufacturer Messer Group and CVC Capital Partners Fund VII.

The purchase price of $3.3 billion, or 2.8 billion euros, will be subject to customary adjustments at closing.

The business to be sold generated annual sales of about $1.7 billion, or 1.4 billion euros, and an EBITDA of just over $360 million, or 305 million euros in 2017. It includes substantially all of Linde’s U.S. bulk business, and its business in Brazil, Canada and Colombia.

Linde said it considers a divestiture of such business to be necessary in order to allow merger clearance of the proposed business combination by the relevant competition agencies.

This sale is still subject to the completion of the proposed business combination of Linde and Praxair Inc. (PX) as well as regulatory approvals.

Linde noted that the receipt of regulatory approvals outstanding in other jurisdictions for the proposed business combination may require that the merger partners divest certain further businesses.

Linde and Praxair are talks with the remaining authorities with the objective of completing their business combination in the second half of 2018.

by RTTNews Staff Writer

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