Air Liquide, Paris, and Airgas, Radnor, Pa., announce an agreement under which Air Liquide will acquire Airgas for $143 per share for all outstanding shares of Airgas, representing a total enterprise value of $13.4 billion. In the transaction, Airgas will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Liquide.
Combining Air Liquide and Airgas will bring together two highly complementary businesses to deliver greater value, service, and innovation to customers in North America and around the world. In the United States, Airgas’ leadership in the packaged gases business and associated products/services, and Air Liquide’s strong footprint in complementary activities, will increase the scope and competitiveness of the combined companies’ product offerings.
This acquisition gives Air Liquide a greater presence in the U.S. market, the largest for industrial gases worldwide, and will ideally position Air Liquide for future growth. In addition, there is potential for further growth using Airgas’ footprint to accelerate the deployment of Air Liquide’s technologies.
The combination builds on Air Liquide’s longstanding track record of successfully operating in the United States, and will benefit from Airgas’ unmatched national presence and its more than one million customers in the United States, as well as from its leading customer-facing platform, including e-commerce and telesales capabilities. The combined entity will be able to better serve customers with the most advanced multi-distribution networks in the United States, and more competitive product offerings thanks to an integrated upstream-downstream model.
The acquisition will reinforce Air Liquide’s global leadership position, increasing Gas & Services sales by around 30%. Upon completion of the acquisition, the combined company will be the leader in North America, complementing number one positions in Europe, Africa/Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. It will also be number one in Industrial Merchant and Large Industries, and co-number one in Electronics, worldwide.
The combined company will continue to implement an innovation strategy that combines scientific expertise, industry-leading technology and customer insight to bring new products and services to market. It will also improve existing offerings and open new markets, in particular by leveraging digital technologies. In addition, this combination will create new opportunities for employees as part of a leading global organization that is ideally positioned for growth.
