At the European level in 1989, the Commission of the European Community demanded that the gas activities of Linde and Messer Griesheim be disentangled. In the separation, all shares in the Dutch gas companies nv W.A. Hoek’s Maschineen Zuurstoffabriek and Linde Industriegassen B.V. (formerly Airgas Nederland B.V.), previously jointly held, went to Linde. In France, Linde received the gas separation plant in Salaise, near Lyon, and merged it with the newly founded Linde Gaz Industriels S.A.R.L., headquartered in Lyon.
In the 1990s, Linde further expanded its gas activities in order to finally rise to become one of the world’s leading suppliers of industrial and medical gases by the year 2000. In 1992, Linde AG increased its participation in Hoek’s Maschineen Zuurstoffabriek (now Hoek Loos) first to more than 60 percent in order to completely take over the Dutch market leader for technical gases in 2000. Linde also acquired gas producers in such countries as Portugal, England, Italy and Austria, together with the Swedish company AGA.