Industrial gas multinational, BOC Gases Nigeria Plc, has announced the proposed sale of the controlling equity interest in the firm by BOC Holdings UK.
BOC Gases Nigeria said that BOC Holdings, which holds about 249,746,823 ordinary shares, which represents 60% of the issued share capital in the company, has entered into a binding share purchase agreement with TY Holdings Limited on November 16, 2020.
This disclosure was made in a notification sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by BOC Gases Nigeria Plc and signed by its Company Secretary, Gabinus Oriseh, on November 16, 2020.
BOC Gases in its notification stated, “BOC Gases Nigeria Plc (BOC Nigeria or the Company) hereby notifies the Nigerian Stock Exchange (The NSE) that the company has been informed by BOC Holdings (BOC UK), the holder of 249,746,823 (Two Hundred and Forty-Nine Million, Seven Hundred and Forty-Six Thousand, Eight Hundred and Twenty-Three) ordinary shares of the company, which represents approximately 60% of the issued share capital in the company, that BOC UK has entered into a binding share purchase agreement dated 16 November 2020 with TY Holdings Limited of (i) the entire shareholding BOC UK holds in BOC Nigeria and (ii) certain claims owing by BOC Nigeria to BOC UK and certain other members of the Linde Plc Group (the Proposed Transaction).”
BOC Gases also states that the Proposed Transaction which is currently at the preliminary stage is subject to the requisite regulatory approvals being obtained from the NSE, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in accordance with the share purchase agreement.
BOC Gases Nigeria Plc which was established in Oshodi Isolo, Lagos, under the name of Industrial Gases Plc (Nigeria) Limited (IGL) in 1959, is the market leader in West Africa for production and distribution of industrial gases, including argon, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen, as well as welding products.
In 1997 Industrial Gases Plc changed to BOC Gases Nigeria Plc. In 2006, The Linde Company AG, a global leader in gases, engineering, and technology solutions, acquired 60% of BOC Gases Nigeria Plc with the balance being held by Nigerian shareholders.
As a member of The Linde Group, BOC Nigeria also has access to the continent’s biggest industrial gases and welding products group, African Oxygen Limited (Afrox), which operates in South Africa and 10 other African countries.