Air Products Increases Its Airgas Takeover Bid to $5.5 Billion
John McGlade, CEO of Air Products & Chemicals Inc.
Bradley C. Bower/Bloomberg
John McGlade, chief executive officer of Air Products & Chemicals Inc.
John McGlade, chief executive officer of Air Products & Chemicals Inc. Photographer: Bradley C. Bower/Bloomberg
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. boosted a hostile takeover bid for Airgas Inc. by 3 percent to $5.5 billion and said it will walk away unless shareholders of the target company support its proposals at a meeting next week.
Air Products is offering $65.50 a share in cash, up from its $63.50 bid made in July, the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based industrial-gas company said in a statement yesterday. Air Products is asking investors at Airgas’s annual meeting on Sept. 15 to elect three director nominees and approve bylaw changes.
“If Airgas shareholders do not elect these three nominees and approve all of our proposals, we will conclude that shareholders do not want a sale of Airgas at this time,” Air Products Chief Executive Officer John McGlade said in the statement. “We will therefore terminate our offer and move on to the many other attractive growth opportunities available to Air Products around the world.”
McGlade is pursuing Airgas to create the biggest industrial-gas company in North America. It’s the second time he’s raised his bid since going public with a $60-a-share offer in February. In previous, private negotiations, he offered as much as $62 a share.
Airgas, led by CEO Peter McCausland, said in a statement it would review the latest proposal. It rejected all of Air Products’ previous offers as too low.
Proposed Meeting
McGlade is seeking shareholder approval for a proposal to hold the 2011 Airgas annual meeting in January, which may allow him to replace a majority of Airgas directors and put the company up for sale. Airgas has argued that the proposal would give the company too little time to fetch a good price in a sale, and has offered shareholders a June meeting instead.
Airgas fell 71 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $65.96 at 10:22 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Shares of the Radnor, Pennsylvania-based company have advanced 51 percent since Feb. 4, the day before Air Products announced its initial public bid. Air Products fell 93 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $77.11.
To contact the reporter on this story: Zachary R. Mider in New York at zmider1@bloomberg.net
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