S&C represented Praxair, Inc. (U.S.) in its $80 billion merger of equals with Linde AG (Germany), creating the world’s largest industrial gas supplier. S&C has been advising Praxair on this matter since the spring of 2016. This complex, cross-border transaction involved seamless coordination among S&C’s M&A, antitrust, tax, CFIUS and environmental practices across offices located in multiple jurisdictions including New York, Washington, D.C., Brussels, Frankfurt and London. The combined company, Linde plc, will have more than 80,000 employees and serve customers in more than 100 countries worldwide.
The Firm’s representation of Praxair entailed crafting a series of divestitures totaling more than $8 billion to obtain antitrust clearances from more than 20 jurisdictions, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the European Commission, and China’s State Administration for Market Regulation.
The team advising on M&A matters was led by Keith Pagnani, Krishna Veeraraghavan and Carsten Berrar. Steven Holley, Joseph Matelis and Renata Hesse advised on U.S. antitrust matters, and Juan Rodriguez advised on E.U. competition law matters and coordinated the non-U.S. competition law and foreign investment approval analysis worldwide. Davis Wang and Eric Wang advised on tax matters. Eric Kadel advised on CFIUS matters, and Matthew Brennan advised on environmental matters.