Praxair Acquires Home Care Supply

Danbury, Conn.

In one of the industry’s most significant business transactions this year, Praxair Healthcare Services has acquired Beaumont, Texas-based Home Care Supply, one of the largest privately held home care companies in the country, for $245 million.

Praxair bought the company from New York-based Harvest Partners, a multinational private equity firm, and after approval from both company boards, the deal closed in June.

With 59 locations in 13 states, Home Care Supply generated revenues of $169 million in 2003, a 14 percent increase from 2002 levels, according to company officials. The company employs approximately 1,200.

Combining their operations, Praxair Healthcare Services and Home Care Supply will create a $525 million health care business in North America and expand Praxair’s worldwide health care sales to more than $750 million.

“The acquisition of Home Care Supply is a good organizational fit with Praxair and gives us service capabilities in 27 states,” said Praxair Healthcare Services President George Ristevski. “It also increases the density of our Northeast operations and significantly expands our presence from the mid-Atlantic to Texas. Our combined industry expertise and geographic reach will provide an excellent platform for sustained growth and will further accelerate our hospital-to-home strategy.”

Home Care Supply’s current management team is expected to continue at Praxair, with Todd Christopher, the company’s CEO and president, becoming vice president, U.S. Homecare, Praxair’s chief operating position for its U.S. home care business.

“Certainly Praxair was already a major player, but [this acquisition] demonstrates the company’s further commitment to the industry,” said Bob Leonard, an associate with Pittsburgh-based The Braff Group, a merger and acquisition firm specializing in the home care industry. “It gives them a substantial uptick in size and a whole bunch of new geography.”

Praxair, the largest supplier of industrial gases in North and South America, had 2003 sales of $5.6 billion. Praxair Healthcare Services provides the home care market with home oxygen, sleep therapy, enteral services, respiratory medications and HME. According to the company’s annual report, its North American home care business was up 14 percent in 2003.

With the acquisition of Home Care Supply completed, health care business will account for approximately 13 percent of Praxair sales worldwide, the company said.

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