Linde Group to acquire Ceylon Oxygen

GAYAN KANCHANA

The Linde Group is to acquire 95.4 percent shares of privately held Ceylon Oxygen Limited, the company announced at a press conference held in Colombo last week.

Linde Group accepted the offer made by Ceylon Oxygen’s major shareholder, Europium Limited (a member of the private equity group, Actis) in respect of these 95.4 stakes in the company.

The offer which has become unconditional, will close on November 12, 2010, after which Linde intends to acquire the outstanding minority share held by shareholders who have not accepted the offer under relevant Sri Lanka legislation to give it 100 present ownership of Ceylon Oxygen.

Linde South and East Asia Regional Business Unit Head Sanjiv Lamba said, “The Linde Group is a global leader in gas and engineering, and Asia is a key to growth for the Group. The investment in Ceylon Oxygen will expand Linde’s footprint in emerging markets in Asia, and provides the opportunity for us to tap into participating in the long term growth prospect in Sri Lanka. Working with Ceylon Oxygen’s experienced management team, we intend to build on and strengthen the company’s solid market position,” he said.

Ceylon Oxygen Limited CEO Niran Pieris said, “We are proud of our association with Actis especially for their belief in our management team and their comment to the long-term growth of Ceylon Oxygen. Today is the start of an exciting future for Ceylon Oxygen.

As a member of the Linde Group we will be able to leverage on Linde’s innovation built over 130 years, technological expertise and strong market position in South Asia to accelerate our expansion plans and serve an even wider set of customers,” he said.

Ceylon Oxygen Limited employs approximately 160 staff and has two manufacturing sites in Sapugaskanda and Colombo, as well as four deposit sites in Galle, Rathnapura, Kurunegala and Anuradhapura. It produces liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen at its Sapugaskanda Air Separation Unit, and its facility in Colombo houses a liquid carbon dioxide plant, a dissolved acetylene plant and Nitrous Oxide plant.