Company: LIN
Filing Date: 2025-05-30
Form Type: CORRESP
Source: 0001628280-25-028502
Chunk: 1

Company: LINDE PLC
Filing Date: 2025-05-30
Form: CORRESP
Chunk 1
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mated a non-cash, all-stock merger of equals to form Linde plc. In accordance with the provisions of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards codification (“ASC”) Topic 805, “ Business Combinations ”, Praxair was determined to be the accounting acquirer and accounting predecessor to Linde plc.

With an ASC 805 determined accounting purchase price of $43.3 billion for Linde AG, the non-cash, all-stock merger transaction was by far the largest in the Company’s history in terms of size, scale and global breadth. In accordance with ASC 805, the application of acquisition accounting resulted in substantial fair value adjustments to the acquired assets of Linde AG including fixed assets and intangible assets. As of December 31, 2017, Praxair’s total assets were $20.4 billion and as of December 31, 2018, Linde plc’s total assets were $93.4 billion.

Management determined in 2018 that it could not effectively manage the Company and communicate with investors and analysts using only GAAP results, primarily because: (i) the business combination was a merger of equals in an all-stock merger transaction, with no cash consideration, (ii) the Company is managed on a geographic basis, the results of certain geographies are more heavily impacted by Linde AG purchase accounting than others, causing results that are not comparable (e.g., Linde plc’s Europe business is primarily comprised of legacy Linde AG operations which are recorded at fair value, while the Company’s Americas business is primarily comprised of Praxair’s operations which are recorded at historical cost, and Asia/Pacific operations are a combination of fair value and historical cost). Therefore, the impacts of merger only purchasing accounting adjustments to each segment vary and are not comparable within the Company and when compared to other companies in similar regions, (iii) business management is evaluated and variable compensation is determined based on results excluding merger purchase accounting impacts, and (iv) investors and analysts want to

analyze and compare the business excluding the impacts of non-cash merger purchase accounting. In addition, the consistent presentation of the non-cash merger only adjustment via the Company’s non-GAAP measures is transparent to any increase in operating results and net income attributable solely to declines over time of the depreciation and amortization. Providing only GAAP results would distort the comparability of information internally and also externally when used by investors and analysts.

Prior to the merger consummation in 2018, our investors