Posted February 10, 2010
Airgas board rejects Air Products offer
The board of directors of Airgas Inc. announced that it unanimously rejected an unsolicited proposal from Air Products & Chemicals to acquire Airgas.
The board characterized the offer to buy the company for $60 per share as an "opportunistic" attempt to obtain the company at a "bargain basement price."
The board rejected the Air Products’ proposal after a thorough review and with the assistance of its independent financial advisors, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and its legal counsel.
In a letter sent to Air Products on Feb. 9, Airgas chairman and CEO Peter McCausland said the offer "very significantly undervalues Airgas and its future prospects."
The letter added that Airgas continues to effectively execute its business plan and is operating well in a difficult environment. McCausland said the company is poised to realize the significant benefits that will result from the substantial infrastructure investment and industry consolidation achieved by Airgas over the last decade. "Our country is just beginning to emerge from the worst recession since the Great Depression and your undervalued proposal would deprive our stockholders of the greater value that they will receive simply with the passage of time," he said.
Click here to read the entire Air Gas press release.
