The two had announced that they were considering a merger in August, forming a single company that combined would have been worth around US$60 billion. But Linde officials said in a statement that they simply couldn’t come to terms.  

“While the strategic rationale of a merger has been principally confirmed, discussions about details, specifically about governance aspects, did not result in a mutual understanding,” the company said.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the merger was expected to have yielded more than US$1 billion annually in synergies.
However, Linde ended the discussions because it would have lost too many key functions to Praxair.  

The Bloomberg news service reported that the holding company for the merged entity would have been in Europe, but its operational center would have been in Danbury, Conn., USA,  Praxair’s hometown. According to Bloomberg, Linde had sought guarantees that certain operations and positions would have remained at its Munich, Germany, headquarters.

But on that point, the two sides couldn’t agree, Bloomberg said.