Praxair Inc. has announced the sale of the majority of its businesses in Europe to Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. for $5.8 billion.
The divestiture is connected to Praxair”™s proposed merger with Munich-based Linde AG and is conditioned on the transaction”™s successful completion. According to the Danbury-based Praxair, the assets to be sold include industrial gas businesses that generated $1.5 billion in annual sales during 2017 and employ approximately 2,500 people across Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the U.K.
“We are taking a constructive approach to address regulatory concerns with the merger in the European Economic Area,” said Steve Angel, Praxair”™s chairman and CEO. “Taiyo Nippon Sanso is a strong and capable global industrial gas buyer for our assets, and we are pleased that they will continue to serve the needs of our customers in Europe.”
