Linde, Praxair to sell a few India assets

Industrial gas firms Munich-based Linde AG and Connecticut-headquartered Praxair Inc. have won anti-monopoly approval to merge on the condition that both sell certain assets in the country. The anti-monopoly body, Competition Commission of India, has directed Linde India to sell its entire stake in Bellary Oxygen Company Pvt Ltd, a joint venture with Inox Air Products Limited. Linde has also been asked to sell a plant at Bellary in Karnataka and two cylinder-filling stations in Hyderabad and Chennai. Praxair has been asked to sell its three plants at Jamshedpur and two cylinder-filling stations at Asansol and Kolkata. To move closer to US anti-monopoly approval for the planned merger, Linde is set to sell additional assets to a consortium of Messer Group GmbH and CVC Capital Partners for about $200 million. Linde will also sell another facility in La Porte, Texas at a later stage, and the US Federal Trade Commission has agreed to give this deal more time. Linde is primarily active in industrial gases, medical gases, speciality gases and related engineering and services sectors. Praxair is into manufacturing of industrial gases, medical gases and speciality gases. It also has a surface technologies business that supplies high-performance surface coatings and equipment.