Linde/BOC Dash for gas

Linde may have made an unsolicited bid for BOC. But arguably the German company is the one under siege. Unless its bid succeeds, it may be broken up. Investors have been encouraging Linde to do the splits for years. It is an unfashionable conglomerate with two unrelated, sub-scale businesses - gases and engineering. To be fair its boss, Wolfgang Reitzle, has tried to oblige. He has sought mergers with other German engineering firms as well as BOC, the aim being to build up one side so he can dum...