Praxair falls as Linde deal hits antitrust hurdle

NIPPON SANSO HOLDINGS

06/08/2018 11:53

** U.S. industrial gas maker's shares  PX.N  down 5 pct at
$156 premarket
    ** Co's $87 bln merger with Germany's  Linde  LING.DE  after
U.S. FTC says both companies may need to sell more assets than
anticipated to secure antitrust approval  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1UX1GP 
    ** Shares of Linde down more than 8 pct 
    ** Merger, agreed in principle in December 2016, would
create world's largest gas distributor, ahead of France's Air
Liquide  AIRP.PA    
    ** Praxair, in early July, struck a deal to sell part of its
European businesses to Japanese rival Taiyo Nippon Sanso
 4091.T  to bring it closer to merger  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1U12JS 
    ** Praxair among busiest stocks traded 
    ** As of Friday's close, PX shares have gained ~33.5 pct
since merger announcement in December 2016

 (Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru)
 ((RM: Shreyashi.Sanyal.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))