PARIS: Shares in Air Liquide dropped in early Paris trading on Wednesday after the French company aid it will acquire Airgas of the United States to build the world's largest industrial gas company.
The shares were down 4.12 percent at 118.55 euros in early transactions, sharply underperforming the overall Paris bourse, 0.71 percent softer.
On Tuesday Air Liquide said it will acquire Airgas for $13.4 billion (12.6 billion euros).
Air Liquide said the transaction would significantly enhance its position in the US, the world's leading market for industrial gases. It catapults Air Liquide past Linde AG of Germany as the industry's largest company by revenue.
Annual revenues of the two merging companies are about $20.5 billion, compared to $18 billion for Linde.
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