Having separated from the welding business last year, Linde Bangladesh has now decided to sell the unit to another multinational company ESAB Group.
In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, Linde Bangladesh disclosed that it wants to sell the entire holding of the welding business run under Linde Industries Private Ltd.
To this end, Linde is going to sign a share sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with ESAB Group for the transfer of 138.29 million shares.
To execute the agreement, Linde will secure shareholders' approval at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) scheduled for June 23. The record date is June 13.
Linde Bangladesh is involved in manufacturing and supplying industrial and medical gas and in welding anesthesia and ancillary equipment.
In October last year, it secured a High Court order for the demerger of the business involving medical gas from Linde Private Industries.
Linde's 60 per cent annual income came from its hard goods business, the rest from gas selling.
To avoid any major impact on the company and its shareholders, Linde decided to demerge, according to its latest financial statements.
It is yet to disclose the audited financial statements for 2023.
In the nine months through September last year, the company's revenue dropped almost 3 per cent year-on-year to Tk 3.62 billion, while profit tumbled 35 per cent to Tk 485 million.
Linde did good business in 2021, particularly in the medical segment, as the need for medical oxygen shot up to help Covid patients dealing with breathing distress in hospitals.
As the pandemic waned and raw material prices skyrocketed due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the company's revenue from this segment kept falling while costs of sales increased.
Subsequently, Linde saw a six-year low profit of Tk 883 million in 2022.
The shrinking profit compelled the company to cut down annual cash dividends to 420 per cent for 2022 from 550 per cent paid for 2021.
Listed in 1976, Linde Bangladesh's stock plunged almost 37 per cent since the removal of the floor price to Tk 884.10 per share on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
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