Today, Air Products issued a disappointed response to Airgas’ rejection of the company’s revised tender offer. Nevertheless the company continues to encourage shareholders to tender their shares before the 13th August expiry date.
Air Products Chairman, President and CEO, John E McGlade, commented, “We are disappointed that the Airgas Board has once again rejected an all-cash offer at a substantial premium without engaging with Air Products. This latest rejection comes in spite of a materially higher offer representing a 46% premium to Airgas’ pre-offer price.”
McGlade qualified this stating that Air Products expects Airgas to face “substantially more uncertain market conditions” than when the initial tender offer was made back in February. He added, “Airgas’ recent performance does not change our view of the company’s intrinsic value. We remain confident that our all-cash offer exceeds the value Airgas could produce for shareholders in the future through execution of its current business plan even under optimistic scenarios.”
McGlade concluded, “As a result of the continuing refusal of Airgas to even discuss our offer, there is only one way for shareholders to be heard in the Airgas Boardroom – and that is to tender their shares and vote for our proposals and independent director nominees at the upcoming Annual Meeting. We are confident we will have strong support from Airgas shareholders and will be able to complete this transaction in a timely fashion despite the actions of the Airgas Board.”
McGlade’s statement comes in the wake of Air Products’ 8th July revised tender bid to purchase all outstanding shares of Airgas for $63.50 per share. The revision saw an increase of $3.50 per share over the company’s initial February offer of $60.00 per share. Furthermore, the tender offer is scheduled to expire on 13th August 2010 and Air Products continues to urge all Airgas shareholders to tender their shares before the expiration date.
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