“In creating this strategic partnership, we are seizing a unique opportunity to return to the North and South American markets. This will turn Messer into a global player in this sector and consolidate its position as the largest family-run industrial gases specialist worldwide,” says Stefan Messer, owner and CEO of Messer Group GmbH. “We intend to fully integrate the joint venture into the family-run Messer Group within a few years. In the medium term, we want to use the merger of the two companies to become a global player again with a presence in the relevant industrial gases markets.” With some 5,400 employees, the Linde activities acquired in the USA, Canada, Brazil and Colombia along with Praxair’s Chilean operation generated sales of US-$ 1.8 billion (€ 1.6 billion) with EBITDA of approximately US-$ 408 million (€ 359 million) in 2018.
Messer Group is contributing the majority of its Western European companies in Benelux, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland and Portugal as well as its Algerian entity to the joint venture. In these around 830 employees generated sales of € 339 million and EBITDA of € 54 million for Messer Group GmbH in 2018.
_{(Source: Messer Group GmbH)}