Linde AG chief executive officer Wolfgang Reitzle

Rumours of a possible Linde materials handling sale ended this week when Linde AG announced it had appointed Credit Suisse to investigate an initial public offering (IPO) for its forklift business.

Since Linde announced its bid for British gas group BOC in January, speculation has abounded that Linde's forklift business would be sold to raise capital for the acquisition. Linde had previously denied reports it had hired New York-headquartered investment bank Morgan Stanley to sell the forklift business (Forkliftaction.com News #255).

Contacted by Forkliftaction.com News, Linde head of external communications Uwe Wolfinger confirmed the group had engaged the Zurich-headquartered global investment banking firm Credit Suisse to investigate a possible sale or IPO of Linde materials handling. No details were provided and Wolfinger was silent on competitor interest so far.

Last week Linde CEO Wolfgang Reitzle told the German News Digest "keeping the forklift division would not be the optimal solution for further development of the division or the company itself".

Wolfinger said Linde intended to focus on gas and engineering once its acquisition of BOC was finalised. "This transaction will create a leading worldwide industrial gases and engineering group."

He said Linde was anticipating meeting antitrust authorities' conditions by early June. The transaction was expected to be finalised during the third quarter of 2006.

Linde has entered into a credit facility with Commerzbank AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Dresdner Bank AG, Morgan Stanley International Ltd and the Royal Bank of Scotland to fund the EUR11.7 billion (USD15.3 billion) acquisition.