Linde Leaders Face Criticism at AGM

At Linde’s annual general meeting in Munich on May 10, supervisory board chairman, Wolfgang Reitzle and interim CEO, Aldo Belloni, faced hefty criticism from shareholders’ representatives over the plan to merge with US rival Praxair, adding to the discontent already voiced by employee representatives.

Both groupings fear that the combination with the US player would diminish the standing the traditional German gases and engineering group enjoys. Employees also fear a massive loss of jobs, as Praxair, despite a leaner workforce reportedly produces higher profit margins.

All calls for a vote to block approval of the transaction dissipated, however. The meeting endorsed Reitzle with an acceptance rate of 94.47% and Belloni with 96.3%. Belloni said he hopes to finally clinch the deal with Praxair by the end of June. While it has been known for some time that the US company’s Steve Angel will head the merged gases giant, the current Linde CEO appeared to unofficially confirm speculation that the holding company will be based in Ireland with a tax domicile in the UK.

The Linde workforce has been critical of locating the holding outside Germany, thus weakening labor’s co-determination rights. But at the same time, Belloni pointed out that under the agreement Linde’s 8,000 German employees will be protected from compulsory redundancies until the end of 2021. He also rejected calls for a vote on the merger plans, saying that all Linde shareholders have the right to decide whether to tender their shares.