Linde to buy health firm Lincare for $4.6 billion

BERLIN (AP) ? Linde AG, a German-based company that specializes in industrial gases, plans to acquire U.S. home care health company Lincare Holdings Inc. in a deal worth $4.6 billion.

The companies said Sunday night that Linde will make a tender offer of $41.50 per share in cash for all outstanding stock of Lincare, which is based in Clearwater, Florida. They said Lincare's board of directors has unanimously approved the deal and that it is expected to close in this year's third quarter.

Linde said it would fund the deal through an acquisition loan of $4.5 billion and through available cash. The loan would be refinanced by issuing new debt and shares.

Lincare provides respiratory therapy to patients in the home in 48 U.S. states and in Canada through 1,091 local centers with 11,000 employees, according to its website. Its services include oxygen therapy, chemotherapy, managing feeding tubes, pain management, treatment of sleep apnea, and home ventilators.

It reported net revenues of $1.848 billion last year, a 10.7 percent increase over the year before. The company has told investors it sees revenues being driven by an aging population, advances in lung medicine along with new drugs, and cost pressures that reward more efficient service providers. Just under half its revenues come from Medicare, the U.S. government insurance program for people over 65, and about a third from private insurance.

Linde CEO Wolfgang Reitzle said the acquisition "enables us to take the next big step in this stable, sustainable and profitable business field."

Linde, headquartered in Munich, is a major maker of gases used for medical purposes such as oxygen therapy, aerosol therapy and anesthesia. It has 50,500 employees in over 100 countries and reported sales of ?13.78 billion last year.

Lincare CEO John P. Byrnes said its board believed that the planned merger "will afford the company benefits it would not be able to realize on its own."

Lincare's share price is up $7.14, or 21 percent, to $41.16 in premarket trading.

Associated Press

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