Air Products makes offer for China’s top industrial gas maker

• Air Products (NYSE:APD) says it made an offer to buy Yingde Gases Group, China's biggest producer of industrial gases, for an undisclosed sum.
• A deal would help APD to leapfrog rivals in China, where Praxair (PX) has at least 22 wholly owned units and 10 joint ventures, and would help it respond to competition globally from its bigger rival, which last month agreed to buy Germany’s Linde to create the world’s largest supplier of industrial gases.
• APD says its offer is preliminary and there is no certainty a deal will be concluded.