Linde Gas Center in Herne, Germany (1982). |
In Germany, by 1972 the Linde Technical Gases segment already owned 50 percent of Industriegas GmbH & Co. KG (IGA) in Cologne. In 1985 Linde took over the rest of the shares in the IGA companies (Industriegas GmbH, Industriegas GmbH & Co. KG, Azetylenfabrik Hagen GmbH and Industriegas GmbH & Co. Nord KG). In the early 1980s, 50 percent of the investments of its domestic group went to the gas sector. |
A new gas centre was built in Herne and another one in late 1983 in Gablingen, near Augsburg. Linde also acquired companies for the gas division in Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal and France starting in the mid-1980s, and entered the market for the first time in Great Britain and Italy.
The crisis in the steel industry in the late 1970s and early 1980s also left its mark on sales in industrial gases. On-site business with large clients suffered in particular, due to the structural problems in the metals industry.