Shares in BOC Group have increased rapidly by more than a fifth after the industrial gases group said it had received a preliminary approach from smaller German rival Linde that looks set to value it at comfortably more than £6 billion.
The Board of BOC which was forced to issue a statement following a 5 per cent surge in its share price earlier this morning, said it had ‘unanimously’ rebuffed the bid approach – which it said was at an early stage and ‘subject to a number of pre-conditions including financing, anti-trust approvals and due diligence.’
The Directors of BOC stated their continuing confidence in the current strategy of the group to deliver growth and excellent returns to its shareholders as an independent company.
Having valued BOC at just over £5.8 billion at the market close last night, the City added nearly £1.2 billion to its worth in the minutes following confirmation of the approach – taking its stock market valuation to just over £7 billion.
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