U.S. industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc. confirmed on August 16, 2016, that the company and german Linde AG are in early-stage talks about a merger to create a market leader with a value of more than $60 billion.
Also Linde confirmed on August 16, 2016, that it was in preliminary talks about a potential merger. Discussions were ongoing and had «not resulted in any concrete results or agreements yet,» it said. «Accordingly it is currently not foreseeable whether there will be any kind of transaction.»
After the announcement Linde shares were up more than 11% on August 16, while Praxair shares gained more than 5,5%.
Praxair, which supplies gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, had a market value of $ 33.7 billion based on Monday’s closing price.
Linde, a gases and engineering company, was valued at $29 billion.
A combined Praxair-Linde would generate more than $30 bln worth of revenues, according to Capital IQ data.
A fusion of the 2 companies could face big challenges from regulators as major deals have recently fallen apart due to antitrust concerns.