Airgas, Inc. was established as a nest egg investment by ex-Messer employee Peter McCausland in 1982 via the acquisition of Connecticut Oxygen Corporation (Connox). It was a fitting start for US Airgas, as it was originally known. Realising that the distribution side of the industrial gas business in the US was ripe for consolidation, McCausland led Airgas along a path of smaller acquisitions and rapid revenue growth. By the 1990s, the company had absorbed nearly 100 acquisitions and had generated both the cash flow and borrowing capacity to continue the aggressive development strategy that we would go on to document throughout our news pages.
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