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As of Oct. 4, seven weeks after the offer was launched, it had
been accepted for 27.7 percent of outstanding Linde shares. The
acceptance period ends at midnight on Oct. 24.
"We have been encouraged by the number of shareholders that have
already accepted the offer. Now that we are entering the final
phase of the offer period, I would like to address you
personally," Chief Executive Aldo Belloni wrote in a letter to
shareholders on Thursday.
The planned all-share merger of equals will create a global
leader to overtake France's Air Liquide <AIRP.PA> with a
combined market value of $80 billion, revenue of $28.7 billion
and 88,000 staff.
Institutional investors who have accepted include Norway's $1
trillion wealth fund Norges, Schroder Investment Management and
Union Investment.
Deutsche Boerse <DB1Gn.DE>, at a comparable point about
two-thirds of the way through its exchange offer for a planned
merger with the London Stock Exchange <LSE.L>, had about 1
percent acceptance.
That deal, which was undermined by Britain's vote to leave the
European Union, eventually failed after European regulators
blocked it over monopoly concerns.
Praxair shareholders have already voted in favor of the Linde
deal at an extraordinary meeting on Sept. 27.
Linde estimates that individual retail investors own about 22
percent of its shares, while 10-13 percent may be held by
index-tracker funds, some of which have rules which forbid them
from tendering until acceptance reaches a certain level.
Chairman Wolfgang Reitzle told Reuters in June that tracking
down retail investors would be tough.
(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan in London; editing by Jason
Neely)
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