German industrial gas supplier Linde and US competitor Praxair said Monday they had abandoned plans for a merger that would have created the world's biggest firm in the sector.
"Shareholder representatives in the supervisory board of Linde AG recommend... to terminate the preliminary talks with Praxair, Inc. about a potential merger," the company said in a statement.
Chief executive Wolfgang Buechele and the rest of the supervisory board agreed with the decision, the statement said.
"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," it added.
Praxair confirmed the halt to the talks in a one-line statement of its own.
Shares in Linde took a tumble as the Frankfurt stock market opened on Monday, losing 7.8 percent, while the DAX index of 30 leading companies fell 2.0 percent by just after 1000 GMT.
The statements by the two companies came just one month after they were forced to confirm they were in merger talks following leaks in the press.
Major stumbling blocks in the talks included the questions of where the merged group should be based and how management should be structured, a person familiar with the discussions told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Where Linde hoped to maintain its decentralised structure and for the merged group to have dual headquarters - including its traditional home in Munich - Praxair insisted on central management and a US base, the person said.
The end to the talks is likely final for the foreseeable future, they added.
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