The Linde Group

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The Linde Group is the international industrial gases company founded in 1879 and relaunched in September 2006, following the acquisition of The BOC Group by Linde AG. The group has major interests in industrial gases and plant engineering, and is currently headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany. There are plans to relocate the corporate headquarters to Munich with some supporting functions in Guildford, England. Prior to the BOC merger, Linde's 2005 turnover across gas, engineering and materials handling was €9.5 billion, with 42,000 employees.^[1] Linde's materials handling business was rebranded as KION Group in September 2006 and sold in November 2006 to KKR and Goldman Sachs for €4bn. The former BOC Edwards equipment business is to also to be divested as part of the formation of The Linde Group as a leading pure play industrial gases company.^[2] In 2005 the Linde and BOC gas and engineering business units now combined to form The Linde Group had turnover of €12.7 billion and 53,000 employees in over 70 countries.^[3] With the acquisition of The BOC Group, The Linde Group has become the largest industrial gas company in the world. In 2005, Linde AG and BOC together had 21% of the world's market in industrial gases followed by Air Liquide with 19%, Praxair with 13%, Air Products with 10%, Nippon Sanso with 4%, Airgas with 3% and Messer with 1%.

1 Business activities
2 History
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Business activities

The Linde Group today has two principal business areas : industrial gases and engineering. In the industrial gas area the group trades under a number of established brand names including Linde, AGA, BOC, Afrox and PanGas.

Linde Gas is a supplier of a wide range of industrial gases and chemicals. These may be supplied in portable high-pressure cylinders, in liquefied form by road tanker, or in gaseous form via pipeline to large customers.
Linde Engineering designs and builds large-scale chemical plants for the production of industrial gases including Oxygen, Nitrogen, Argon, Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide , as well as large plants associated with the processing of LPG and the manufacture of Olefins.

[edit] History

On 21 June 1879, Professor Doctor Carl von Linde founded the Gesellschaft für Linde’s Eismaschinen Aktiengesellschaft to develop further his work in developing mechanical refrigeration systems for the brewing and food industries. Following success in this market, he moved on to developing lower temperature systems resulting in 1895 in a patent covering the liquefaction of air. Out of this work his company developed equipment for the separation of air and other gases. One of the first large-scale air separation plants was installed in Höllriegelskreuth, near Munich in 1903.

In addition to plants air separation, in 1906 Linde engineers started working with other on processes to separate the constituents of water gas. This work developed into capabilities in the manufacture of Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide, which were further key feedstocks for the emerging chemicals industry.

In addition to his interests in refrigeration, Carl von Linde had also partnered with Hugo Güldner and others in 1904 to form the Güldner Motoren-Gesellschaft mbH in Aschaffenburg. Linde took full ownership of the company in 1929, and from this origin developed a business manufacturing first engines and tractors, and then from the 1950's onwards, a range of mechanical handling equipment such as fork lift trucks.

Linde has had a complex history of takeovers, mergers and divestments, and in 2000 completed the acquisition of Aktiebolag Gasaccumulator AB (AGA AB) of Sweden. This was followed in 2004 with the divestment of the original core of the Linde business - the refrigeration division - to Carrier Corporation of the USA.^[4] In March 2006 Linde made a proposal to acquire The BOC Group for €11.7 billion in cash. ^[5] The acquisition was completed on 5 September 2006. ^[6] Following the acquisition, the combined gas and engineering group was rebranded as The Linde Group, and the materials handling activities separated and rebranded as KION Group. It was also announced that the BOC Edwards equipment business was to be sold.^[7]