Linde to buy Europe homecare unit of Air Products
Technology company The Linde Group has agreed to acquire the Continental-European homecare business of industrial gases firm Air Products for €590 million, the companies said on Monday.
This business achieved annual sales of €210 million in 2011.
The transaction comprises Air Products’ homecare operations in Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain with around 850 employees.
"Healthcare is one of our three strategic growth pillars. It has proven to be a stable business and builds on the mega-trend of changing demographics," said Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle, CEO of Linde AG.
"With this transaction we are expanding our competencies and scaling-up our product and service offering, delivering quality care to around 260,000 additional patients,” he continued.
“This puts us in a very good position to continue to drive innovation and develop new services. The acquisition will improve our position in a structural growth market and will make us one of the market leaders in the European respiratory homecare business."
Homecare is the term applied to medical services relating to the treatment of patients in settings other than hospitals.
It comprises respiratory services such as oxygen therapy, sleep therapy, and ventilation services.
In the 2010 financial year, Linde achieved global sales of around €280 million in this product area.
In the healthcare segment as a whole, which comprises not only homecare but also hospital care (the supply of medical gases and services to hospitals), Linde achieved sales in the 2010 financial year of €1.1 billion.
Linde is the second largest supplier of medical gases and related services in the world, it said.
The completion of the deal is subject to approval by the antitrust authorities, relevant works council consultation and fulfillment of other usual closing conditions.
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