Airgas, Inc. said Wednesday that it has a definitive agreement to acquire the U.S. bulk gas business that Linde AG is required, by the Federal Trade Commission, to divest after it acquired The BOC Group.
Airgas will pay $495 million in cash for eight air separation units (ASUs). Airgas will manage the ASUs as part of Airgas Merchant Gases, which will oversee production, sourcing and applications support and logistics.
The bulk gas business has 300 employees and had revenue of $154 million. Airgas will acquire its sales of nitrogen, oxygen and argon produced at the plants. It will also acquire the helium, hydrogen and carbon dioxide bulk sales to the plants’ customers, as well as delivery vehicles, bulk tanks and related infrastructure and sales, operations and engineering staff that support the business.