The gas industry shocks in 2018. On the one hand, acquisitions and mergers between enterprises continue. The merger of Prix and Linde has finally settled down, and the transfer of Baosteel's shares has finally achieved results. In addition, the price of liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen continues to rise this year, attracting investors to pour in, and the industry structure continues to adjust.
In 2018, the performance of the industrial gas industry is still good. Supported by the increasing demand of downstream related industries, gas prices continue to rise, and the number of new entrants to the industry continues to increase. With the increasing competition pattern, domestic and foreign professional gas companies continue to expand their market share through mergers and acquisitions, highlighting their advantages. Linde and plex merger has been promoted step by step abroad, and the transfer of 51% equity of Baosteel gas in China. In addition, gas companies continue to expand the industrial chain both horizontally and vertically, constantly tap potential value and consolidate their position in the gas industry. Zhuo Chuang also combs the important events at home and abroad up to now, which is also called "peeping the leopard in a pipe" to understand the changes of the whole industry pattern.
1. Linde and plex merged with US antitrust authorities.
In the second half of the merger, Prix and Linde received anti-monopoly licenses from Korea and China. In late October, the U.S. antitrust authorities agreed to remove the last obstacle to the merger. According to 2017 data, the full-equity peer-to-peer merger will create an industry leader with revenues of about $27 billion and 80,000 employees in more than 100 countries. After the merger, it was called Lind-Plex Group, and became the largest industrial gas group surpassing FALVAC.
2. air chemical company completed Shell coal gasification technology and patent acquisition
On May 8, Air Products announced that it had successfully acquired all the coal gasification technology patent licensing business of Shell Global Solutions International, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Limited. The company also set up a strategic alliance with Shell to provide residue gasification technology to refineries. The acquisition includes Shell's patent portfolio for solid (coal and biomass) gasification and the sharing of technical patents for residue and biomass gasification. On this basis, on August 18, the signing ceremony of the service contract for coal-based syngas processing was held in Beijing for the project of 1 million tons of ethylene glycol annually produced by Air Products Company and Jiutai New Materials Company. The two sides jointly signed the "Inner Mongolia Jiutai New Materials Co., Ltd. annual output of 1 million tons of ethylene glycol project coal-based syngas processing service contract", with a total investment of about 4.8 billion yuan.
3. Yang Yang's acid buying part of European assets
The plex Linde merger is about to enter the final stage. In early July, the Japanese gas company Dayanglionic acid acquired some European assets of Plex at a price of 5 billion. The acquisition includes industrial gas businesses in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium; carbon dioxide gas businesses in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands and France; and helium-related businesses.
4. $3 billion 300 million for us part of gas business in Linde
In late July, a consortium of German industrial gas company Messel Group and CVC Fund reached an agreement with Linde Group to buy most of Linde's North American gas business and some assets in South America for $3.3 billion (2.8 billion).
Lind sold assets involving about 5,100 employees, earned $1.7 billion (1.4 billion euros) in 2017 and EBITDA more than $360 million. This was Lind's concession to merge Prax with the consent of American regulators, and another step after Prax last sold its 5 billion European assets to Dayanglionic acid.
5. Baosteel gas 51% share transfer was traded at 4 billion 166 million yuan.
After disclosing 51% equity transfer information on January 26, Shanghai Baosteel Gas Co., Ltd. re-disclosed information on June 15, with a floor price of 1.956 billion yuan for 51% equity transfer. With this news, many giant gas companies in the industrial gas industry are eager to try. On August 17, 2018, formal bidding began at 10:00 a.m. and lasted for 158 minutes. After 77 consecutive quotations, the final transaction price was 4.166 billion yuan at 12:38, which was 112.99% higher than the listing price. Finally, the Taimeng Investment Group won.
6. air products company will provide hydrogenation unit for the first hydrogen station in the national energy investment group.
Air Products announced that it has signed an agreement with Shenhua New Energy Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of State-owned Energy giant National Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd., to provide two hydrogenation equipment for its new hydrogenation station in Rugao, Jiangsu Province. This is also the first commercial operation hydrogen station of the national energy group in China. Air Products Inc.'s world-leading Smart Fuel Patented Hydrogenator will be used in the hydrogenation station project to provide safe and convenient hydrogenation services for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The hydrogen station is expected to be operational by the middle of this year. It is one of the largest hydrotreating stations in China.
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