REVIEW AND OUTLOOK

摘要

Air Products has made an unsolicited cash offer to acquire Airgas in a deal valued at about $7 billion. The proposed deal, which would enable Air Products to re-enter the U.S. packaged gas market, would create the biggest industrial gases company in North America, with annual sales of about $12.5 bil- lion. Airgas says it is reviewing Air Products' latest proposal with financial and legal advi- sors. Airgas says that in December 2009 it received a cash and stock proposal from Air Products with an implied value of $62/share, and that in October 2009 Airgas received an all-stock proposal from Air Products with an implied value of $60/share. Airgas says that its board unanimously determined the previous bids "grossly undervalued Airgas." Air Products says it is prepared to advance a hostile takeover bid if Airgas refuses the lat- est offer. Air Products expects the proposed acquisition to be immediately accretive to the company's earnings per share, exclud- ing expected one-time costs. The combined entity "would be one of the largest industrial gases companies in the world, with distinctive strengths across all geographies and in all three distribution channels: packaged gases, liquid bulk, and tonnage," Air Products says.