Afrox parent Linde to restructure again after failed Praxair merger
After the collapse of merger talks with Praxair, and expecting years of low growth, German gas group Linde is again restructuring, this time to save €370m a year
Munich — German industrial gases group Linde, parent of JSE-listed African Oxygen (Afrox), announced a further restructuring on Friday in anticipating years of low growth after last month’s collapse of merger talks with US rival Praxair. The strategy, which Linde announced on Friday alongside forecast-beating quarterly results, is designed to save an extra €370m a year from 2019, on top of an existing scheme to save €180m a year. Linde said it would reexamine its global footprint, optimise use of capacity at its smaller engineering arm and may divest itself of noncore activities while cutting probably thousands of jobs. Outgoing CE Wolfgang Buechele said Linde needed to resign itself to low growth and at the same time catch up with rivals in terms of profitability. "Our shareholders have very clear expectations," he said. Shares in Linde jumped to the top of the German blue-chip index, and by 9.51 GMT were trading up 2.7%. Buechele said he had done his utmost to get the merger done,...
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