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British industrial gas maker OKs bid Staff and wire reports LONDON -- Air Liquide and Air Products & Chemicals Inc. will buy the global operations of British rival BOC Group PLC for $11.5 billion, boosting their stakes in the expanding market for industrial gases. The two companies plan to strengthen their positions in the business of supplying carbon dioxide and other gases needed to put the fizz in soft drinks, chill imported fruits and vegetables and manufacture high-quality steel. BOC Group is the parent company of BOC Gases, which constructed a plant in White City last year. The plant is thought to employ around 40 people, though local officials declined to answer questions about the company. They referred questions to the company's U.S. offices in New Jersey, no one there could be reached for comment on how the buyout could effect the White City operations. The deal would mark a major consolidation of the industry. Paris-based Air Liquide is the world's largest producer of industrial gases. BOC ranks No. 2 in the world, and Air Products, based in Trexlertown, Pa., is fourth. The cash deal is worth $23.36 per BOC share, a 42 percent premium over BOC's price on May 10 when speculation about the deal began. Air Liquide said it will ultimately own all the British and Irish gases operations of BOC and substantially all operations in Japan and Thailand. Air Products will own BOC operations in Australia and New Zealand and significant operations elsewhere in Asia, including Singapore, southern China and Malaysia. Air Liquide and Air Products will each own some of BOC's businesses in the United States and some of the remaining gases businesses, including those in South Africa, on a country by country or region by region basis. BOC's unions expressed fears Tuesday that the merger could result in major job losses for the company's 11,000 employees. "This takeover is a disaster for British jobs and for the British chemical industry," said Roger Lyons, general secretary of the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union. Alain Joly, chairman and chief executive of Air Liquide, said he did not expect big layoffs in Britain. "Since we do not have significant overlaps there are not going to be significant redundancies in the field operations, with the possible exception of the United States," he said. BOC stock on London markets closed down 1.7 percent on Tuesday, ending at $21.66 per share. Air Liquide shares closed down 4.2 percent in Paris at $151.47 per share. Air Products shares were trading at $41.50, up 25 cents, in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA