Air Liquide announces a Home Healthcare acquisition in France

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Pursuing the development of its Home Healthcare activity in France, Air Liquide announces the acquisition of a portion of the business of the ARAIR Group, a leading player in home healthcare in the Central Region of France.

Air Liquide is acquiring the home healthcare service provider ARAIR Assistance (which generated revenue of 34 million euros in 2013), as well as ARAIR Group’s support and training services. The group Le Noble Age, a family-held business that manages nearly 60 healthcare and medical-social facilities in France, including two home hospitalization facilities, is acquiring the ARAIR Group’s Home Hospitalization business.

All of the ARAIR Group’s business units were placed in receivership on July 22 and 29, 2014. The Commercial Court of Tours, which had received several offers from interested buyers, issued a ruling on December 11, 2014 in favor of the joint acquisition proposal submitted by Air Liquide and Le Noble Age.

The ARAIR Group was founded in 1977 by anesthesiologists and intensive care doctors of the University Hospital (CHU - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire) of Tours to take care of the home medical treatment of patients with severe respiratory disorders. Since then, the Group has extended its activities to other areas of medical treatment, such as sleep apnea, diabetes and, most recently, the field of home hospitalization and nursing services. The Group employs nearly 600 people and cares for some 20,000 patients in France’s Centre, Poitou-Charentes and Pays-de-la-Loire Regions.

The joint proposal submitted by Air Liquide and Le Noble Age, both specialists in the core businesses of the ARAIR Group, ensures the long-term survival of all of these activities and retains all current employees.

Air Liquide will call on the expertise and commitment of the teams in place as it pursues the further development of ARAIR Assistance and its related activities.

Pascal Vinet, Vice-President, Healthcare Global Operations and Member of the Air Liquide group’s Executive Committee, commented: “The decision in our favor handed down by the Business Court of Tours recognizes our expertise in home healthcare in France. This acquisition adds strength to our offer dedicated to providing care for patients suffering from chronic illnesses in France.”