Air Products Raises Bid for Airgas

Air Products raises its bid for Airgas in the long-running hostile takeover battle.
By Eric Rosenbaum ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -

Air Products and Chemicals

(APD) - Get Report

raised its bid for

Airgas

(ARG)

on Thursday afternoon, to $70 per share.

Shares of Airgas plummeted after the announcement, as the company has maintained that its shares are worth much more.

The move was not a surprise to the market, but the amount of Air Products' raised offer was below expectations. Early on Thursday morning, analysts at MKM Partners said that they expected a raised bid from Air Products.

The New York Times

recently compared the long-running hostile bid by Air Products for Airgas as an "interminable war."

MKM Partners instructed investors to buy bullish Airgas options, arguing that Air Products would probably raise its $65.50-per-share bid to buy the producer of industrial gases to $71 or $72.

The actual new offer from Air Products was only $70 per share, though.

"It is time to bring this matter to a conclusion, and we are today making our best and final offer for Airgas," John E. McGlade, Air Products' chairman and chief executive, said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

Air Products is extending the deadline for its tender offer for Airgas shares to Jan. 14, from a previous deadline of Dec. 17.

The hostile bid has been tied up in the Delaware courts, where Airgas has contended that it is worth $78 per share or more.

Airgas shares fell by 7% after the new offer was announced.

Air Products shares were up close to 3% after their "best and final offer."

-- Written by Eric Rosenbaum from New York.

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