New Delhi: On 11th January, 2018, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) received a notice filed by Linde Aktiengesellschaft (Linde) and Praxair, Inc. (Praxair) (together Parties) in relation to the merger of Linde and Praxairunder a newly incorporated holding company Linde Plc. Linde, headquartered in Munich, Germany is primarily activein industrial gases and medical gases, specialty gases, helium and the related engineering and services sectors.Praxair, headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut, USA, is an international industrial gases company. Praxair also has asurface technologies business that supplies high-performance surface coatings and equipment.
The Commission is of the prima facie opinion that the proposed merger is likely to have an appreciable adverseeffect on competition and, accordingly, has directed the Parties, in terms of Section 29(2) of the Competition Act, 2002,to publish details of the merger for bringing the same to the knowledge or information of the public and persons affectedor likely to be affected by such merger.
The Parties have already published the details of the proposed merger in all India editions of four newspapers viz., TheBusiness Standard, The Financial Express, The Indian Express and The Hindustan Times on 26th May, 2018 and thesame is also hosted on the respective websites of the parties. The said details are also available on the website of theCommission (www.cci.gov.in).
As per the provisions of Section 29(3) of the Act, the Commission invites comments/objections/ suggestions in writing,from any person(s) adversely affected or likely to be affected by the proposed merger. The same may be addressed tothe Secretary, Competition Commission of India, Hindustan Times House, 7th Floor, 18-20, Kasturba Gandhi Marg,New Delhi – 110001 or through email: secy@cci.gov.in, within fifteen working days from the date of publication ofdetails of the proposed combination. The Commission is not likely to consider unsubstantiated objections.
