By Olivier Cherfan
(Reuters) -Air Liquide has signed a binding deal to buy South Korea’s DIG Airgas from Macquarie Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund 2, valuing it at 2.85 billion euros ($3.3 billion), the French industrial gases group said on Friday.
The French group, which supplies gases, technologies and home healthcare services, said the acquisition would bolster its position in South Korea, the world’s fourth largest industrial gas market and a major manufacturing hub.
“This opportunity … will contribute to the net profit growth of the Group as soon as one year after Group integration,” Air Liquide CEO François Jackow said in a statement.
The announced valuation of the deal, which represents the biggest acquisition by Air Liquide in ten years, is based on the accounts at the end of December 2024, it said. The current enterprise value of the business is 4.85 trillion won ($3.5 billion), a Macquarie spokesperson told Reuters.
The company’s shares were broadly flat following the news. Analysts from Jefferies said in a note that the indicated transaction multiple was high relative to other company valuations in the sector, but the deal still represented a “minor strategic positive” for Air Liquide as M&A opportunities in the industrial gases market are limited.
The transaction is expected to be closed in the first half of 2026, pending Korean approvals, Air Liquide said.
The company, present in South Korea for more than three decades, said DIG had expanded under Macquarie’s ownership into semiconductors and secondary batteries and was well placed to compete for “mega projects in high growth industries”.
DIG Airgas reported revenue of 510 million euros in 2024. It employs around 550 people and operates roughly 60 plants and 220 km (140 mi) of pipelines.
($1 = 0.8633 euros)
($1 = 1,391.2200 won)
(Reporting by Olivier Cherfan in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
