RADNOR, Pa. - Airgas, Inc. recently announced that its Board of Directors, after careful consideration with its independent financial and legal advisors, unanimously rejected the revised unsolicited tender offer from Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. to acquire all outstanding common shares of Airgas at a price of $70.00 per share in cash.
The board unanimously recommends that Airgas stockholders not tender their shares into Air Products' revised offer.
In making its determination, the board considered the factors described in the company's amended Schedule 14D-9, including improvements in the company's business, in the market performance of the company's business sector and in the operating and economic environment, and the opinions of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Goldman, Sachs & Co. as of December 21, 2010 regarding the inadequacy, from a financial point of view, of the price offered by Air Products, based upon and subject to the factors and assumptions set forth in their respective written opinions included in the amended Schedule 14D-9.
Accordingly, the board unanimously concluded that the $70 per share offer is clearly inadequate and that the value of Airgas in a sale, at this time, is at least $78.00 per share, in light of the board's view of relevant valuation metrics.
