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Questions over Gist's future in wake of sale
Page 9
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THERE IS GROWING speculation that temperature-controlled logistics firm Gist might be sold following the takeover of its parent company BOC by German industrial gas giant Linde.
The `preconditional offer' to acquire the entire share capital of the BOC Group for £8.2bn is subject to competition laws and the approval of BOC's shareholders and English courts, Linde chief executive Wolfgang Reitzle says he wants the firm to be a "pureplay gases company" hut refuses to comment on Gist's future.
The takeover, if successful, will make Linde one of the world's leading industrial gases and engineering groups. A Linde company statement says: "Given the complementary product portfolios of both companies, Linde expects that the preconditions can be satisfied." The transaction is expected to be completed by late summer.
A BOC spokesman says it is too early to discuss redundancies among its 30,000 staff.