From May 7, 2008, The Messer Group has returned to the German industrial gas market. Following the sale of Messer Griesheim in 2004, Messer was subject to a three-year contractual non-competition clause and a further one-year ban on using the brand in connection with producing and selling gases in Germany. The new company Messer Industriegase GmbH, as the subsidiary of Messer in Germany, has its headquarters in Sulzbach near Frankfurt am Main.

 

The return to the German market is initially focused on the industrial regions west and southwest. Messer is investing around EUR 90 million in, among other things, production plants for air gases in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia, and in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony. The air separation plants will go into service in the autumn of 2009 and the summer of 2010 respectively, and will supply nitrogen, oxygen and argon for use in all branches of industry.