8 March 2006
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Linde finally bags BOC for £8.2bn
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GERMAN industrial group Linde has finally been successful with an £8.2bn bid for UK gas firm BOC. This latest offer follows last month's £7.6bn bid which was rejected by BOC.
The acquisition will make Linde the world's largest industrial gas supplier, with combined gas and engineering sales of £8.2bn. BOC generated sales of £4.6bn and underlying profits of £564.2m last year. BOC currently claims 13% of the global gases market against Linde's 9%.
BOC employs more than 30,000 people and boasts two million customers in 50 different countries. It began life in 1886 as Brin's Oxygen Company.
Linde, once a big name in the fridge industry, sold its original Refrigeration Division to Carrier in 2004 in a £220m deal.
The offer is subject to confirmation by European and US competition authorities but expects the acquisition to be completed in the third quarter of this year.