Munich, 12 January 2012. Linklaters advises the technology company The Linde Group on the acquisition of the Continental European homecare business of the US industrial gases company Air Products. Homecare is the term applied to medical services relating to the treatment of patients in settings other than hospitals. The transaction advised by Linklaters comprises Air Products’ homecare operations in Spain, Germany, Portugal, France and Belgium with around 850 employees. The enterprise value amounts to EUR 590m.
The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 50,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. In 2010 financial year, the homecare business achieved sales of around EUR 280m.
Air Products employs around 18,900 employees in more than 40 countries. In 2011, Air Products realised revenues amounting to EUR 210m with the Continental European homecare business.
From The Linde Group’s perspective, the acquisition is a further strategic step to significantly improve its position on the international healthcare market, which is considered to be a structural growth market and will make The Linde Group one of the market leaders in the European respiratory homecare business.
The completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the antitrust authorities, relevant works council consultation and other usual closing conditions.
The Linde Group was advised by its inhouse-lawyer Andrew Brackfield.
The international Linklaters team was led by Dr. Timo Engelhardt and Dr. Michael Lappe (both Corporate/M&A, Munich) and Andreas Schaflitzl (Tax, Munich).
The team also included Dr. Thomas Broichhausen, Dr. Florian Harder, Hanno Witt, Dr. Florian Harder, Holger Ebersberger (all Corporate/M&A, Munich), Carolin Goll-Müller, Thorben Eisenbeiß (both Employment/Pensions, Munich), Kristina Zych, Jochen Jan Zimmermann, Anna Burghardt (Regulatory, Berlin), Jörg Schrade (Tax, Munich), Maria Cortizas (Tax, Madrid), Mark Kingstone, Timothy Lowe (Tax London), Rui Camacho Palma (Tax, Lisbon), Dr. Bernd Meyring, Lars Küpper, Andreas Eberhardt (all Competition, Brussels), Paul Kreijger (Competition, Amsterdam), Carlos Pinto Correia, Miguel Paiva Antunes (Competition, Lisbon), Philippe Remels, Jae Suk Vanwijngaerden (both Corporate/M&A, Brussels), António Soares, Marcos Sousa Monteiro, Ines Caprichoso (all Corporate Finance, Lisbon), Luis Salema (Real Estate, Lisbon), Joaquín Fabre (Real Estate Madrid), Carla Borges (Litigation, Lisbon), Alexander Kolb, Rita Brandao, Leticia Comin, Julia Acinas, Roberto Sanchez, Leticia Alcocer, Gianluca Bacelliere Maria Solana (all Corporate/M&A, Madrid), Pierre Tourres, Julien Wagman, Martin Ozanne (all Corporate/M&A, Paris), Jerome Cordier, Chek-Lhy Alice Luu (both Employment, Paris), Casper Lawson (Corporate/M&A, New York) and Jean Lovett, Emma Williamson (bothEmployment, London), Naiara Rodriguez Escudero, Belén Lavandera (both Employment, Madrid), John Gordon (Pensions, London), Luc Vanaverbeke, Yve Degrande (both Employment, Brussels), Tanguy Van Overstraeten, Bastiaan Bruyndonckx, Tom De Coster, Didier Wallaert (all TMT/IP, Brussels), Romain Viret (TMT/IP Paris).
