Praxair Acquires American Gas Group

Praxair Distribution Inc., a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX), has acquired American Gas Group (AGG), a leading supplier of specialty gases worldwide. AGG is comprised of Specialty Gases of America, Inc., American Specialty Gases Inc., Semiconductor Resources, Inc. and Specialty Gases of America, LLC. The business includes facilities in Toledo, Ohio and Wheeling, Illinois, with 56 employees and annual sales of $28 million. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

AGG is one of the largest independent specialty gas producers in North America and packages a variety of specialty gases including EPA Protocols, hydrocarbons, VOC mixtures, reactive mixtures, high-purity chemicals and research-grade gases in addition to industrial and medical gas products.

John Armelagos, one of the owners of AGG prior to the sale to Praxair, said, "Praxair is a perfect fit for our company and our two organizations complement each other. We have been working for several years to put this deal together. The tragic and untimely death of Ron Corns, AGG’s CEO, is a great loss for all of us. Ron was instrumental in developing and fostering the relationship with Praxair and was excited by the vision of what our two organizations could achieve together. We will greatly miss his leadership.”

"The addition of AGG to the Praxair network strengthens our Midwest specialty gas production capabilities and provides an important channel to support our distributor network,” said John Panikar, president, Praxair Distribution, Inc. "AGG has a world class facility, capable people and an extensive product offering to support growth. We are excited to have the American Gas Group employees on the Praxair team and look forward to sharing technology and best practices.”

Praxair, Inc. is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide, with 2010 sales of $10 billion. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric and process gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Praxair products, services and technologies are making our planet more productive by bringing productivity and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries including aerospace, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and others. More information on Praxair is available on the Internet at www.praxair.com.