Linde makes bid for BOC Group

The German industrial gases giant Linde AG (www.linde.com) made an unsolicited, $13.54-billion takeover offer for British industrial gases giant BOC Group (www.boc.com) in late January, prompting speculation that Linde could become the world's largest supplier of gases if the bid is successful.

The board of directors of BOC a statement Jan. 24 saying that it rejected Linde's preliminary offer because of pre-conditions that included financing, anti-trust approvals and due diligence. The due diligence condition would have required BOC to open its books to Linde, its competitor.

Additionally, the BOC board said Linde's offer failed "to value fully the growth prospects of BOC."

In its statement on the proposed takeover, Linde said it believes the merger of the companies has "strong industrial logic."

"The two groups are complementary in terms of products and regions, and together have the potential to create a leading industrial gases business," Linde said, adding that its approach was "friendly."

The actual offer was made as a cash deal that had Linde offering 15 British pounds per share of BOC stock for a deal valued at £7.6 billion. Using currency translations on Jan. 25, that deal translated to $13.54 billion.

If consummated, analysts said the deal would make Linde slightly larger than France's Air Liquide in the market for industrial gases that are used for welding, steel making, refining and food processing.