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After a failed attempt at a tie-up last year that led to the
departure of Linde's two top executives, Chairman Wolfgang
Reitzle managed to stop labor representatives from blocking the
deal in a marathon supervisory board meeting on Thursday.
Shares in Linde were indicated to open 1.4 percent higher,
against a DAX blue-chip index <.GDAXI> seen up 0.6 percent.
Praxair shares hit a record high on Thursday after the agreement
was announced.
The deal still has to be approved by a majority of Praxair
investors at a shareholder meeting, while 75 percent of Linde
shareholders must tender their shares to the new company for the
merger to go through.
"We expect a tender offer in August 2017," DZ Bank analyst Peter
Spengler wrote in a note, keeping his "hold" rating.
Praxair Chief Executive Steve Angel said he was confident that
any anti-trust remedies imposed would be "manageable".
He added that he was keen to keep Linde's plant-engineering
unit, which is less profitable than the two companies' main
industrial gases business.
"You cannot be a leading industrial gas company unless you have
a strong engineering and technology arm," he told journalists on
a conference call ahead of a news conference scheduled for 0900
GMT in Munich.
(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Harro ten Wolde and
Maria Sheahan)
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