The acquisition of BOC was approved by the EU and US competition authorities on 6 June 2006 and 18 July 2006 respectively, subject to certain conditions. As a result of conditions imposed by the US competition authorities on 30 June 2006, a total of eight air separation plants in the US were classified as non-current assets held for sale.

Other conditions imposed by the competition authorities related to the gases business in the UK and Australia (Linde Gas UK Ltd., West Bromwich, England, and Linde Gas Pty. Ltd., Yennora NSW, Australia), and in Poland (BOC Gazy Sp.z.o.o, Poland). These companies were disclosed as non-current assets held for sale. Linde’s holding in the joint venture Japan Air Gases Ltd. was also reclassified, and a contract of sale was agreed on 21 December 2006. Contracts of sale were also signed on 8 January 2007 for BOC Gazy Sp.z.o.o., on 20 December 2006 for Linde Gas Australia and on 1 February 2007 for the Chilean joint venture Indura S.A.

In addition, on 1 November 2006, the environmental technology segment of Linde-KCA-Dresden GmbH was disclosed under non-current assets held for sale, with a contract of sale being agreed on 21 December 2006.

KION Group
The Material Handling business segment, renamed the KION Group, was classified as a discontinued operation on 15 September 2006, after fulfilling all the requirements of IFRS 5. The KION Group was deconsolidated on the completion of the sale transaction on 28 December 2006.

The income statement was divided into continuing operations, i.e. our gas and engineering activities, and discontinued operations, i.e. the KION Group.

BOC Edwards (components business)
In the course of the BOC acquisition, the components business of BOC Edwards was classified as a discontinued BOC operation of Linde in the opening balance sheet at 5 September 2006. Linde expects to dispose of this business within the next twelve months. The electronics business of BOC Edwards is remaining in The Linde Group.

All the assets and liabilities attributable to the BOC Edwards components business were reclassified in the balance sheet at 31 December 2006 and disclosed under Non-current assets held for sale and disposal groups and Liabilities directly related to non-current assets held for sale. From the date of acquisition on 5 September, the income statement was divided into continuing gas and engineering operations and discontinued operations, i.e. the BOC Edwards components business.

The effect of the classification of the KION Group and the BOC Edwards components business as discontinued operations can be seen from the following table:

Intangible assets which are disclosed as Non-current assets held for sale include goodwill of €109 million.