On 11th January, 2018, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) received a notice filed by Linde Aktiengesellschaft (Linde) and Praxair, Inc. (Praxair) (together Parties) in relation to the merger of Linde and Praxair under a newly incorporated holding company Linde Plc. Linde, headquartered in Munich, Germany is primarily active in industrial gases and medical gases, specialty gases, helium and the related engineering and services sectors.Praxair, headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut, USA, is an international industrial gases company. Praxair also has a surface technologies business that supplies high-performance surface coatings and equipment.

The Commission is of the prima facie opinion that the proposed merger is likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition and, accordingly, has directed the Parties, in terms of Section 29(2) of the Competition Act, 2002,to publish details of the merger for bringing the same to the knowledge or information of the public and persons affected or likely to be affected by such merger.

The Parties have already published the details of the proposed merger in all India editions of four newspapers viz., The Business Standard, The Financial Express, The Indian Express and The Hindustan Times on 26th May, 2018 and thesame is also hosted on the respective websites of the parties. The said details are also available on the website of the Commission (www.cci.gov.in).

As per the provisions of Section 29(3) of the Act, the Commission invites comments/objections/ suggestions in writing,from any person(s) adversely affected or likely to be affected by the proposed merger. The same may be addressed to the Secretary, Competition Commission of India, Hindustan Times House, 7th Floor, 18-20, Kasturba Gandhi Marg,New Delhi – 110001 or through email: [email protected], within fifteen working days from the date of publication of details of the proposed combination.

The Commission is not likely to consider unsubstantiated objections.

Merger scrutiny over Linde Praxair combination: public comments invited following prima facie competition concerns under regulatory notice. Proposed combination between Linde Aktiengesellschaft and Praxair, Inc. was found to raise a prima facie appreciable adverse effect on competition, and the authority has directed publication of transaction details and invited written public comments, objections and suggestions within a specified consultation window; unsubstantiated objections are unlikely to be considered.