The US Federal Trade Commission has provided clearance of the business combination between Linde Aktiengesellschaft and Praxair Inc subject to the completion of certain sales of business activities and related commitments.
The necessary divestments in the United States include, in particular, the sale of substantially all of Linde's US bulk business as well as the sale of certain carbon monoxide, hydrogen and steam methane reforming businesses, according to a press release.
Linde and Praxair are reportedly temporarily obliged to continue to operate their businesses globally as separate and independent companies, and not to coordinate any of their operations. Such hold separate order will end upon completion of the majority of the divestitures. On balance, the merger parties expect targeted annual synergies and cost efficiencies to be in a range of US$ 1.1 to 1.2 billion to be achieved over approximately three years.
This story is reprinted from material from Linde, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.