From the very first month of the year, 2017 proved to be a strong year for the industrial gases industry – full of project announcements, capacity investments, and breaking M&A news from around the globe.
Indeed, mergers and acquisitions activity continued to surprise in 2017 (think Pentair’s acquisition of Union Engineering or Nikkiso’s purchase of Cryogenic Industries), while one story in particular dominated headlines throughout the year – the proposed merger of Praxair and Linde.
Just as Praxair-Linde proceeded to unfold throughout the year, so too did a positive streak running through the financials of the industry’s major players, all of which appeared to point to a tempered confidence in the industry’s growth prospects for the year ahead – and perhaps the most positive year yet for the industry since its gradual recovery from the financial crisis of 2008/9.
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