An update from the air separation industry, 20160918: CEO and CFO of Linde both resign

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Is this a strategy of \"dying together\"? ~~Hehe~~ foreigners really know how to have fun~~ The CEO and CFO of Linde Company both resigned. Frankfurt (Reuters), September 13, 2016: According to the latest reports, Germany’s leading industrial gases company Linde announced on Tuesday, September 13, 2016, that its CEO and CFO both submitted their resignations, one day after the German company ended discussions regarding a merger with its American competitor, Praxair. Linde added that the term of office of the company’s CEO, Wolfgang Büchele, will come to an end in April 2017, after which he will no longer hold the position of CEO. Just a few minutes after the announcement that Wolfgang Büchele was stepping down, Linde’s chief financial officer, Georg Denoke, also resigned. Linde stated that its head of finance, Sven Schneider, will temporarily assume the role of CFO until a new successor is appointed. Some sources told Reuters journalists that if the termination of the $60 billion merger talks between the U.S. gas company Praxair and its German counterpart Linde was not the direct cause of Wolfgang Büchele and Georg Denoke’s resignations, then serious disagreements arose between them regarding the location of the new headquarters for the combined company, the implementation of future research and development activities, and the allocation of key management positions. It was these disagreements that led to the breakdown of the merger negotiations between Praxair and Linde. Sources close to the negotiations revealed that Wolfgang Reitzle faced opposition from the chief financial officer, Georg Denoke, who was strongly against the project. Another source close to Praxair suggested that as long as the issues related to Denoke are resolved, transaction negotiations could resume; therefore, discussions regarding this merger have created tension between the company’s CEO and CFO. Affected by the news of Wolfgang Büchele and Georg Denoke’s resignations, Linde’s share price rose on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, increasing by 5.09% in the minutes before closing to reach 145.50 euros. It is worth noting that the day before, namely the day the talks failed, Linde’s stock price dropped by 7%.