Hengeler Mueller advises Linde on sale of assets in the Americas to Messer and CVC

Today, Linde Aktiengesellschaft (“Linde”) and a consortium comprising companies of German industrial gases manufacturer Messer Group and CVC Capital Partners Fund VII (“CVC Fund VII”) have entered into an agreement to sell the majority of Linde’s gases business in North America and certain business activities in South America. The business to be sold generated annual sales of approximately USD 1.7 bn (EUR 1.4 bn) and an EBITDA of just over USD 360 m (EUR 305 m) in 2017. The business to be sold includes substantially all of Linde’s US bulk business, and its business in Brazil, Canada and Colombia. The purchase price of USD 3.3 bn (EUR 2.8 bn) will be subject to customary adjustments at closing. Linde considers a divestiture of such business to be necessary in order to allow merger clearance of the proposed business combination of Linde and Praxair by the relevant competition agencies. This sale is still subject to the completion of the proposed business combination and regulatory approvals.

Hengeler Mueller advised Linde on the transaction. The Hengeler Mueller team was led by partners Matthias Hentzen (Düsseldorf) and Emanuel P. Strehle and included partners Jochen Vetter (all Corporate/M&A), Matthias Scheifele (Tax) (all Munich) and Daniela Böning (Capital Markets, Frankfurt), counsel Gunther Wagner (Munich), Steffen C. Hörner (Frankfurt) (both Tax) and Patrick H. Wilkening (IP/IT, Düsseldorf) as well as associates Thomas Lang (Frankfurt), Gerrit Forst (Düsseldorf), Daniel Illhardt, Daniel Engel, Johannes Baumann (all Munich), Alexander Bekier (Berlin) (all Corporate/M&A), Caspar Schmelzer, Franziska Dechamps (both Capital Markets), Sebastian Adam (Tax) (all Frankfurt) and Maximilian Wosgien (IP/IT, Düsseldorf).