Air Products to Airgas: $70! Take It Or Leave It! (APD, ARG)

If you have followed mergers and acquisitions for the last year or more, you are probably growing rather sick of the proposed merger where Air Products (NYSE: APD) wants to acquire Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG).  There is a new offer, a final offer, on the table of $70.00 per share in cash.  Air Products (NYSE: APD) has increased its cash tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG) to $70 per share.

The company noted, “This is Air Products’ best and final offer for Airgas and will not be further increased.  It provides a 61% premium to Airgas’ closing price on February 4, 2010, the day before Air Products first announced an offer to acquire Airgas.”

Air Products first approached Airgas with a proposed transaction in October 2009 and this new tender offer has been extended out to January 14, 2011.  As of December 8, about 2,175,398 shares of Airgas common stock had been validly tendered into and not withdrawn from the offer.

Airgas shares are currently halted and the stock’s last trade was $65.88 against a prior 52-week range of $41.82 to $66.73.  Its last market cap was listed as $5.51 billion versus almost $19 billion in market cap at Air Products.

JON C. OGG