Lincare holdings Inc. is a home health services provider that specializes in home respiratory therapy. Linde AG, the German industrial gas company is looking to expand into the healthcare sector. Industrial gas companies similar to Linde have taken interest in home healthcare services that provide respirators and gas tanks in recent years as their supply costs are low and the recent expansion in home healthcare services industry.
In January, Lincare acquired Air Products, a European homecare company for $747 million. Lincare has a P/E ratio of 17.18 and a market cap of $2.94 billion. Linde’s healthcare sector had 2011 sales of EUR 1.2 billion and total sales of EUR 13.8 billion. Linde’s agreement to buy Lincare included an offer to purchase Lincare’s shares at $4