Carrier acquires Europe's largest refrigeration company

On July 12, 2004, Carrier announced that the European Commission in Brussels has approved the company's intended acquisition of Linde Refrigeration, the European leader in commercial refrigeration and a division of Linde AG. Under the agreement, Carrier Corporation will acquire Linde Refrigeration for approximately 390 million US dollars. Linde Refrigeration employs 6 300 people and has annual sales of approximately 1 billion US dollars. It is headquartered in Cologne, Germany, and has manufacturing facilities in Europe, Asia and South America. Products include refrigerated display cases and subsystems and industrial and commercial refrigeration systems. Carrier Corporation, is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut, with revenue of 9.2 billion US dollars in 2003 and operations in 172 countries. Geraud Darnis, President of Carrier Corporation, states that "Refrigeration is a core business at Carrier and this acquisition will be a synergistic fit to our existing operation. The Carrier/Linde combination will allow us to provide a more comprehensive range of products and services".