Air Products wants to buy Yingde Gases

Air Products & Chemicals has sent a letter to the board of the Chinese industrial gas maker Yingde Gases expressing its interest in buying the firm. Yingde is considering the offer, and the two companies have made confidentiality commitments to each other. Yingde had 2015 sales of about $1.1 billion and operating profits of nearly $300 million. Most of its sales come from supplying oxygen, nitrogen, and argon on-site to industrial customers. Air Products had $1.2 billion in Chinese sales in its most recent fiscal year. Air Products may be exploiting intrigue at Yingde, where directors are feuding over a stock offering meant to pay off debt. Some directors worry a stock sale would yield control to OriginWater, an investor in the firm. Yingde has also received an expression of interest from a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, Stellars Capital.