Linde CEO says no question of reviving Praxair talks

By Georgina Prodhan and Jens Hack

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - German industrial gases group Linde (LING.DE) is not considering reviving merger talks with rival Praxair (PX.N), its outgoing chief executive told Reuters on Friday.

"Praxair is not a live issue for us," Wolfgang Buechele said after the company presented a new restructuring plan involving thousands of job cuts, a likely exit from some markets and the possible disposal of non-core assets.

Linde shares pared gains on the news to trade 1.7 percent higher at 149.05 euros by 1206 GMT, down from a high of 153 euros earlier in the day.

Buechele said it had been his vision to create the world leader in industrial gases through the merger. "Now it's a different game and it's simply not my priority," he said referring to his departure when his contract ends next April.

Linde is already the world's biggest industrial gases group by sales but Buechele said that being No.1 is not only a matter of size, but also stability and profitability.

As well as supplying industrial gases worldwide and healthcare gases in North America, Linde also has a plant-engineering unit, the profit margins of which are much lower.

Buechele said that the restructuring announced on Friday would help to push Linde's core operating margin above its current 23 percent but not to the levels achieved by its big U.S. rivals because of the drag from its engineering division.

Praxair has a comparable profit margin of 33 percent and Air Products (APD.N) 35 percent.

Buechele said that divestments in the course of the restructuring could include Gist, Linde's UK-based chilled food and beverages distribution business.

A source had told Reuters early this year that Linde had put Gist up for sale with a price tag of about 800 million euros (£719.00 million).

"Gist is non-core. If someone would offer me a good price, I would sell it," Buechele said, declining to elaborate on a valuation.

Buechele added that Linde would not rule out a withdrawal from some countries where revenues are small and political instability is high, for example in Africa, Asia or South America.

"It's about freeing up management capacity," he said.

Asked whether Linde, which earlier promised to keep raising its dividend, would also consider share buybacks, Buechele said the question was being considered but was not yet decided.

(Editing by Edward Taylor and David Goodman)