Germany’s Linde has for a second time rejected a request for a shareholder vote at its annual general meeting next month on its planned $65 billion merger with U.S. industrial gases rival Praxair.
Linde said shareholders would in any case have to decide individually whether to accept a public offer from the new combined holding company, so a vote at the AGM on May 10 would not be appropriate.
“Even if a qualified majority of Linde shareholders would accept the exchange offer, not a single Linde shareholder will be forced to exchange his shares,” it said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Linde was responding to a renewed request from German private-investor association DSW, which came on behalf of shareholders Aberdeen Asset Management and BayernInvest.
By Georgina Prodhan and Jens Hack
Source: Reuters
Private equity investor Cinven is acquiring MBCC Group’s admixture business from Swiss construction chemicals major Sika on the rebound. Earlier, the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had turned thumbs down on plans to sell the business to Ineos, citing antitrust concerns.
Air Liquide S.A. (Paris) announced the construction of an industrial scale ammonia (NH3) cracking pilot plant in the port of Antwerp, Belgium. When transformed into ammonia, hydrogen can be easily transported over long distances.
Huhtamaki receives a gold medal from EcoVadis on its sustainability performance – for the third year running. Its score places Huhtamaki in the top 4% of over 100,000 rated companies across the globe. EcoVadis is the world’s largest and most trusted business sustainability index.
