GIC, a private equity firm, completed the acquisition of a minority stake in Messer, a privately held specialist for industrial, medical and specialty gases, for €2bn. "With the now approved partnership with GIC and the full acquisition of Messer Industries, Messer is opening a new chapter in its 125-year corporate history. As a gases group successful in Asia, Europe and the Americas, we will be even stronger and drive forward our ambitious plans with GIC as our new partner. Messer has enormous potential with its 11k employees worldwide. We want to move closer to the big players in the industry as the number one challenger," Bernd Eulitz, Messer CEO.