WUERZBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Shares in Germany's Linde (DE:LING) looked set to top the blue-chip DAX (GDAXI) index on Friday after the company's boards agreed a $73 billion merger with U.S. peer Praxair (N:PX) to create the world's biggest industrial gases group.
After a failed attempt at a tie-up last year that led to the departure of Linde's two top executives, Chairman Wolfgang Reitzle managed to stop labour representatives from blocking the deal in a marathon supervisory board meeting on Thursday.
Shares in Linde were indicated to open 1.4 percent higher, against a DAX blue-chip index (GDAXI) seen up 0.6 percent. Praxair shares hit a record high on Thursday after the agreement was announced.
The deal still has to be approved by a majority of Praxair investors at a shareholder meeting, while 75 percent of Linde shareholders must tender their shares to the new company for the merger to go through.
"We expect a tender offer in August 2017," DZ Bank analyst Peter Spengler wrote in a note, keeping his "hold" rating.
Praxair Chief Executive Steve Angel said he was confident that any anti-trust remedies imposed would be "manageable".
He added that he was keen to keep Linde's plant-engineering unit, which is less profitable than the two companies' main industrial gases business.
"You cannot be a leading industrial gas company unless you have a strong engineering and technology arm," he told journalists on a conference call ahead of a news conference scheduled for 0900 GMT in Munich.