Consolidation has been progressing at a steady pace but last year marked a record for mergers and acquisitions in terms of deal size.
The largest deals included Linde’s acquisition of BOC group, the industrial gases company, for £8.2bn in March 2006 followed by BASF’s June acquisition of Engelhard, the US manufacturer of catalysts, for $5.6bn. (Click here for a list of the world’s top 50 chemicals companies)
