On the 20th January 2004, Air Liquide announced that they had signed an agreement with Messer Griesheim to acquire Messer’s industrial gas operations in the UK, US and Germany for €2.7 billion.
Simultaneously, the Messer family, through their holding company Messer Industrie GmbH (MIG) announced that they would acquire the remaining shares in Messer Griesheim, formally owned by Allianz Capital Partners and private equity funds managed by Goldman Sachs.
For the acquisition to go ahead both Air Liquide and MIG had to fulfil a number of conditions set by the anti-trust authorities in the US and Europe. Air Liquide, had to carry out a series of divestitures of around 23%, and MIG had to complete its acquisition of the remaining Messer Griesheim group which both company’s achieved.
The total consideration amounted to €2,680 million including assumed debt, for acquired sales of €1,040 million (2003 estimates), however divestitures have reduced this amount by €230m.
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