Commission Receives Application for Proposed Divestiture from Linde AG and The BOC Group plc; FTC Approves Final Consent Orders in Real Estate Competition Matters

Application for proposed divestiture: The Commission has received an application for approval of proposed divestiture from Linde AG and The BOC Group plc concerning an August 29, 2006, FTC consent order regarding the proposed acquisition of BOC by Linde. Under the terms of the order, the parties are required, among other things, to divest the relevant “Atmospheric Gases Assets” to a single buyer approved by the Commission. Through this application, the parties have requested FTC approval to divest these assets to Airgas, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

The FTC will be accepting public comments on the proposed divestiture for 30 days, until January 2, 2007, after which it will determine whether to approve it. Comments should be send to Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580. A copy of the public version of the parties’ application can be found as a link to this press release on the FTC’s Web site. (FTC Docket No. C-4163; the staff contact is Roberta S. Baruch, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2861; see press releases dated July 18 and September 5, 2006.)

Commission approval of final consent orders: Following a public comment period, the Commission has approved the issuance of final consent orders in the following cases concerning real estate competition: 1) Williamsburg Area Association of Realtors, Inc.; 2) Monmouth County Association of Realtors; 3) Northern New England Real Estate Network, Inc.; 4) Realtors Association of Northeast Wisconsin, Inc.; and 5) Information and Real Estate Services, LLC. The vote to approve each final consent order, copies of which can be found on the FTC’s Web site as a link to this press release, was 5-0. (FTC File Nos. 061-0268, 051-0217, 051-0065, 061-0267, and 061-0087; the staff contact is Patrick Roach, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2793; see press release dated October 12, 2006.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.