The technology company The Linde Group announced that it has signed an agreement for the acquisition of the Continental European homecare business of the industrial gases company Air Products at an enterprise value of EUR 590 million. This business achieved annual sales of EUR 210 million in 2011. The transaction comprises Air Products' homecare operations in Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain with around 850 employees.

Dr Wolfgang Reitzle CEO of Linde AG said that "Healthcare is one of our three strategic growth pillars. It has proven to be a stable business and builds on the mega trend of changing demographics. With this transaction we are expanding our competencies and scaling up our product and service offering, delivering quality care to around 260,000 additional patients. This puts us in a very good position to continue to drive innovation and develop new services. The acquisition will improve our position in a structural growth market and will make us one of the market leaders in the European respiratory homecare business."

Homecare is the term applied to medical services relating to the treatment of patients in settings other than hospitals. It comprises respiratory services such as oxygen therapy, sleep therapy, and ventilation services.

In the 2010 financial year, Linde achieved global sales of around EUR 280 m in this product area. In the Healthcare segment as a whole, which comprises not only Homecare but also Hospital Care (the supply of medical gases and services to hospitals), Linde achieved sales in the 2010 financial year of EUR 1.1 billion. Linde is the second largest supplier of medical gases and related services in the world.