(Archived) Praxair to Acquire Linde's Industrial Gases Business in Mexico

DANBURY, Conn., February 20, 2007 — Praxair Inc. (NYSE: PX) announced today that it has entered  into a definitive agreement with The Linde Group to acquire Linde's industrial and medical gases business in Mexico. Linde's Mexican business operates under the name of AGA S.A. de C.V. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction excludes the Mexican assets of the BOC Group, which Linde acquired as part of their worldwide acquisition of BOC.

The agreement has been approved by Mexico's Federal Competition Commission and the transaction is expected to close in a few weeks.

The sale of Linde's Mexican business is part of a mutual agreement between Praxair and Linde under which Linde acquired the Turkey-based industrial gases producer Karbogaz A. S. in July, 2006. Karbogaz was formerly a joint venture company between Praxair and Ismail Aytemiz of Istanbul, Turkey.

AGA S.A. de C.V. was acquired by the Linde Group in 1999 as part of its acquisition of Swedish gases producer AGA A.B. The business operates throughout Mexico, generating sales of approximately $75 million in fiscal 2006.

"The acquisition of AGA S.A. de C.V. will increase our presence in the metropolitan area of Mexico City and place Praxair Mexico in a position to maintain its strong sales growth in the years ahead," said Eduardo Menezes, managing director, Praxair Mexico.

The Linde Group is a world leading industrial gases and engineering company with more than 53,000 employees working in around 70 countries worldwide. With the acquisition of The BOC Group, the company has gases and engineering sales of approximately 12 billion euros. 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, please see The Linde Group online at http://www.linde.com.

Praxair, Inc. is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide, with 2006 sales of $8.3 billion. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric and process gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Praxair products, services and technologies bring productivity and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and others. More information on Praxair is available on the Internet at www.praxair.com.