| Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., March 3, 2008 –- LifeGas, a company of The Linde Group, has announced its acquisition of Sky Oxygen Inc.’s medical business, effective February 29, 2008.
Sky Oxygen, headquartered in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, is a third generation independent gas and welding supply distributor, serving the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
With the transaction, LifeGas acquires two of Sky Oxygen’s locations in Akron, Ohio, and Erie, Pennsylvania. LifeGas is also operating from Sky Oxygen’s Carnegie location to service the greater Pittsburgh area. Seventeen Sky Oxygen sales and operations associates will be joining LifeGas to support and grow the medical business in these markets.
Mike Walsh, president of LifeGas, said, "The addition of Sky Oxygen's medical gas business significantly strengthens our supply chain in the eastern U.S. Both companies bring a strong customer service focus and dedication to quality. Our expanding product and service lines are being well received by customers and employees on both sides of the merger.”
LifeGas is the U.S. medical gases business of The Linde Group. The company specializes in providing premier medical gases and gas-enabled solutions to hospitals, clinics, nursing facilities, emergency management services and home healthcare providers with service to over 1,000 hospitals and home care providers.
The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with around 50,000 employees working in about 100 countries and achieved sales in the 2007 financial year of EUR 12.3 billion (USD$18.7 billion). The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. For more information, see The Linde Group web site at www.linde.com
Contact:
Peter Gavigan
Linde corporate communications
908-771-1512
Peter.gavigan@boc.com
IR:
Thomas Eisenlohr
Investor Relations
+49.89.35757-1330
Thomas.eisenlohr@linde.com |
