LINDE, THE German industrial gas producer, is to pay $4.6 billion to acquire Lincare Holdings, a US provider of oxygen and respiratory homecare services.
The two parties have signed a merger agreement according to which Linde will acquire all outstanding shares of Lincare via a cash offer. Linde’s offer of $41.50 per common share represents a 64 per cent premium on Lincare’s stock price before news of the transaction first emerged last Wednesday and a 22 per cent premium on its closing price of €34 on Friday.
The transaction volume includes around $800 million in assumed debt, a spokesman said.
The acquisition would further expand Linde’s healthcare activities by bolstering its footprint in the valuable US homecare market. In January Linde agreed to buy the European unit of Air Products in a €590 million deal.
Lincare’s homecare respiratory services include oxygen therapy, nebulisers and enteral therapy, where patients are fed by tube. The Florida-based company last year generated $1.8 billion in revenues and $177 million in net income. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012)
