Linde to buy US firm Lincare for $4.6 billion

In a statement late Sunday, Linde said it was buying Lincare in an agreed cash deal worth $4.6 billion. Linde will make a tender offer of $41.50 per share in cash for all outstanding stock of Lincare, which is based in Clearwater, Florida.

Lincare shares jumped $7.32, or 21.5 percent, to close at $41.34.

Linde's CEO Wolfgang Reitzle said the deal would double sales for the company's North American gases division.

"Health care is one of our three growth pillars," he told journalists on a conference call Monday. He called the health business "a global megatrend" due to aging populations and new treatments.

Lincare provides respiratory therapy to patients in the home in 48 U.S. states and in Canada through 1,091 local centers and has 11,000 employees, according to its website. Its services include oxygen therapy, chemotherapy, managing feeding tubes, pain management, treatment of sleep apnea, and home ventilators.

It reported net revenues of $1.85 billion last year, a 10.7 percent increase over the year before. The company has told investors it sees revenues being driven by an aging population, advances in lung medicine along with new drugs, and cost pressures that reward more efficient service providers. Just under half its revenues come from Medicare, the U.S. government insurance program for people over 65, and about a third from private insurance.