Good afternoon, everyone. Aude Rodriguez speaking, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you very much for attending this call today despite the very short notice. François Jackow and Jérôme Pelletan will make a short presentation of this strategic growth acquisition in Korea. Ronnie Chalmers, Group VP overseeing the Asia-Pacific region, will join by phone for the Q&A session. Let me now hand you over to François.
Thanks, Aude, and hello, everyone. First of all, of course, thank you for making yourself available on the short notice. The reason for this call is to share more about the strategic growth opportunity: the acquisition by Air Liquide of one of the key players in South Korea. Indeed, earlier today, we announced the signing of a binding agreement with Macquarie for the acquisition of DIG Airgas. We will call it DIG, the leading national player in the Republic of Korea. This is a strategic growth acquisition for three main reasons. First, it will strengthen Air Liquide's positioning in growth markets today and even more in the future. Second, Air Liquide's existing business in Korea and DIG are highly complementary. Doubling our current size, we will build a reference player. Third, it will quickly contribute to the profitable growth of the group.
We are, of course, thrilled to welcome the 500+ DIG employees to Air Liquide. We also look forward to continuing the longstanding and trusting relationships with many key customers and partners. Hence, further develop what the existing Air Liquide teams in Korea that I would like to thank have successfully done. On slide three, I would like to go further in detailing the rationale for our acquisition of DIG. First, due to its strong manufacturing base, including major players in the semiconductor industry, the Korean economy is using a lot of industrial gases. The Korean industrial gas market is ranked number four globally today and is expected to double by 2025. Second, this acquisition is highly complementary. DIG would immediately increase our local density by adding 60 plants and more than 220 km of pipeline, servicing key customers across 10 major industry basins.
I will show later how this is a perfect match for each of our existing business lines. Third, it is a profitable acquisition and will be earnings accretive after one year. Our group ROCE will remain above 10%, well aligned with our advanced ambitions. EUR 240 million of profitable investments are already secured with long-term contracts supporting DIG's diversified backlog made up of 19 projects. Finally, let's make sure we understand that it is a strategic acquisition. Korea is a market we have in 95% time as one of the handful of markets that will provide significant growth in the future. It is strategic. It is also a timely acquisition. Thanks to our increased performance, our balance sheet is strong. Also, the Euro- Korean Won exchange rate is favorable. Finally, we are at the beginning of the new wave of industrial expansions.
DIG is the right company for us at the right time. Let's go through a more in-depth view of what I just mentioned. Now, moving to slide six. As I mentioned earlier, South Korea is ranked among the top economies worldwide with the key feature that the share of manufacturing in its GDP is quite high, above 25%. The strong and diverse manufacturing economy has a presence in the traditional large industry markets of refining, chemicals, and steel, having, for example, three mega-scale basins and three refineries in the world top six. Its steel production per capita is one of the highest in the world. It is also highly integrated in the production value chains. For example, in automotive manufacturing or shipbuilding, Korea has top rankings. Probably the most known leadership position of Korean manufacturing companies is in the semiconductor industry.
Samsung and SK Hynix alone have a 70% share of the memory market, for example. LG and Samsung hold around 40% on the display market. New sectors are rapidly developing, such as EV batteries, electronics advanced packaging, biopharma, and low-carbon energy transition solutions. The country is known for having a skilled workforce, being innovation-driven, and quick to scale up. Overall, what is making this market very attractive for us is that in most of the examples I gave, the consumption of industrial gases is very high. This makes, again, Korea the fourth industrial gas market in the world to be noticed. In particular, it is the largest carrier gas market for electronics. Another feature which is very interesting is the innovative nature of this market. South Korea's R&D spending per GDP is the second highest in the world.
All this explains why the Korean industrial gas market is expected to double over the next 10 years to become the second largest industrial gas market in Asia. Clearly, the geography where Air Liquide is committed and expects to capture more than its fair share of growth. I am on slide eight now to talk a little bit about DIG. As a standalone, DIG is a leading industrial gas company, ranked number three in Korea, with over EUR 500 million of sales in 2024 and over 500 employees. DIG benefits from an impressive footprint with 60 industrial plants, 220 km of pipeline networks, by the way, the most extensive in Korea. DIG has a strong historic presence in all major industrial basins, as well as in many large electronic basins. It has a well-balanced and diversified portfolio consistent with Air Liquide's resilient business model.
It is well known for having established deep, longstanding relationships with both global and local customers. Let's move to slide nine. As I mentioned, DIG has a diversified footprint and strong position in each of our business lines. In large industries, DIG enjoys a strong presence in air gases, the largest pipeline networks in Korea, as I mentioned, and established relationships with customers in all the main industrial complexes of Korea. DIG serves the three traditional sectors of large industries: refining, chemical, and steel, and is well positioned to capture energy transition projects. In electronics, which accounts today for 60% of the Korean industrial gas market, DIG has a strong footprint in carrier gases. It acts as a key supplier for both semiconductor and flat panel display customers.
As such, DIG is already very well positioned to capture the next wave of growth expected in these markets, especially applications driven by AI. DIG has a large national footprint in industrial merchants, with a leading position in small on-site and bulk gases and meaningful local liquid products, including argon. Finally, DIG's healthcare supplies medical gases to hospitals across Korea, and its local project and engineering team has a proven execution track record, which is very valuable in the context of new investment opportunities. Slide 11 highlights the fact that this acquisition not only gives us a strong position in a key market, but also that it is unique in the way it is allowing a perfect match between Air Liquide's existing business and DIG. Within large industries first, Air Liquide has solid hydrogen and carbon monoxide operation in the Yeosu basin and a robust techno portfolio.
Air Liquide today has no business in air gases. Complementary is DIG's strength in air gases, an extensive pipeline network, the largest in Korea again, and presence in all key basins. For electronics, Air Liquide brings technical strength and expertise, notably in carrier gases, but also for advanced materials, where we are the only industrial gas company with this type of capability. Currently, relying mainly on external technologies, DIG is a recognized actor in carrier gases and electronics specialty materials. They bring established relationships with both semiconductor and flat panel display major Korean customers. You see that the combination offers now a unique, complete portfolio to our customers. In Industrial Merchant, we will deploy Air Liquide's innovation and product applications to the national footprint of DIG, thus reaching a wider customer base and creating added value. Air Liquide's helium offer and specialty gases know-how will strengthen DIG's current position.
DIG has also argon available, which is very well suited to help to address the demand from other Air Liquide affiliates in Asia. In healthcare, Air Liquide currently is the market leader in home healthcare in Korea. This will complement DIG's medical gas supply to hospitals. Lastly, Air Liquide's portfolio of technologies will certainly plug in well to the strong execution of the local DIG engineering team. DIG engineering performs the local execution and purchases the planned technology from third parties, many from Air Liquide Engineering in the past. As such, the two teams have a long and successful history of working together. This will be highly complementary as well. Let's move to slide 12. Before asking Jérôme to present some of the key numbers, I would like to conclude this section by reinforcing the fact that this strategic acquisition will strengthen our leadership positions.
It will firmly solidify our number one position in Asia and in electronics globally. It will also reinforce the diversity and the density of our footprint in Korea and in Asia as well. Combining DIG's key infrastructure and strong customer relationships with Air Liquide's leading position in electronics and global expertise in areas such as blue and green hydrogen, we will build a platform for growth on markets of the future which are clearly identified as national priorities. For example, AI-fueled semiconductor development or clean mobility of EV and hydrogen, also energy transitions via carbon capture solutions or low-carbon hydrogen, including ammonia cracking and so on. Lastly, we will fully leverage the ecosystem of innovation in the country, both with universities and leading companies. I hope that you are now convinced about the strategic rationale and the great value creation potential of this acquisition.
I now ask Jérôme to detail some of the financial numbers.
Thank you, François, and good afternoon, good morning, everyone. I will now highlight the key financials of this very exciting and strategic acquisition. I am now on slide 14, as detailed by François. This deal is driven by the strong complementarity between DIG and Air Liquide Korea, and will additionally deliver highly executable synergies, including secure growth from DIG's investment backlog. First, the backlog. DIG has secured growth with 19 projects protected by signed long-term contracts representing a EUR 240 million investment. Most of these projects are efficiently concentrated in existing pipeline basins. When they materialize, they will bring more than EUR 60 million of additional EBITDA by 2030. Second, cost synergies. As you know, Air Liquide has been very focused on overall global efficiency. It will be no different here.
In addition to cost efficiencies of procurement, scale effect, leveraging business service centers, and optimizing G&A, we will improve overall operational efficiencies by utilizing Air Liquide technologies and tools. This looks to secure a minimum of EUR 16 million of additional EBITDA annually by 2030. Third, regarding growth synergies. Growth synergy brought by strong local business complementarities will be further leveraged by Air Liquide technology and the rolling out of our innovative product offering. Our technology will improve productivity in DIG air gases and will extend synergies beyond Korea. Those growth synergies are in addition to the secured growth in the backlog. Turning to slide 15. The proposed transaction values DIG at an enterprise value of KRW 4.6 trillion or EUR 2.85 billion. This equates to a 20.2 multiple of DIG 2024 EBITDA or 16 multiple of DIG EBITDA post backlog.
I emphasize post backlog here because it is a secured EBITDA contribution. There would be, of course, additional benefit to the multiple down to 14.8 post backlog when you consider threat synergies as indicated on the slide. In fact, the multiple decreases even further when considering all the growth synergies that will be generated by this very complementary acquisition. Leveraging a very strong balance sheet, this acquisition is supported by a structured bridge loan. It will be financed or refinanced by bond issues and should allow Air Liquide to maintain its commitment to an A-category credit rating. This acquisition will have a positive impact to group sales of around +2% as a large perimeter effect and will contribute to the long-term growth of the group, feeding into our advanced ambition of profitable growth.
We expect a neutral net profit impact before PPI allocation the first year of the transaction, and the transaction will be earning attractive one year after integration. Our return on capital employed will remain above 10%, in line with our advanced objective. Of course, this transaction is subject to relevant Korean regulatory clearance and is expected to close in H1 2026. I will now return to François for his concluding remarks. François.
Thank you, Jérôme. To conclude on slide 17, I believe you see why the DIG acquisition is a strategic acquisition for profitable growth. The fact that it positions us very well on existing and growth markets, and that DIG and Air Liquide Korea are highly complementary, clearly strengthens our positions in Korea and beyond. This combination of DIG and Air Liquide will offer long-term value creation and short-term net profit contribution. Once closed, we are confident that this strategic and complementary acquisition positioned on growth markets will contribute clearly to Air Liquide's value creation for its stakeholders. I stop here. Thank you very much for your attention. Now we will open the call for some Q&A.
Thank you so much, dear participants. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw a question, please press star one one again. Please stand by. We'll compile the Q&A queue. This will take a few moments. Now we're going to take our first question. Just give us a moment. The first question comes from the line of Martin Roediger from Kepler Cheuvreux. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Yes, thanks for taking my three short questions. Number one, it's about the joint venture called Green Air, in which DIG Airg as has a 49% stake. What is the EBITDA of that joint venture? I ask because this is included in your EBITDA multiples. Secondly, I'm keen to learn about the process. Did you approach Macquarie to buy that asset, or was there a bidding process among several predators? The final question is about, can you disclose what is the EBITDA margin of DIG Airg as in 2024? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Martin. Good afternoon. I will ask Jérôme to talk about the first and the last point, and I will comment right away on the process itself. As I mentioned, Korea has been a market which we have identified for many years as a strategic market. We have a position in Korea today. We see the high gas intensity of this market. We see also the potential. Our strategy has been to grow in that market, and we have been successful in securing projects, in developing our activity in large industry, and especially in electronics for the advanced material where we have a leading position there. However, due to the structure of the market, there are players which were "independent players," including DIG. We have been looking at this for some time, and we have been proactive in testing the markets.
At some point, Macquarie decided to engage into a formal bidding process for the sale of the DIG operation. To answer your question, there has been a bidding process, and we have been successful in being selected in that process. Jérôme, can you mention about the Green Air and the EBITDA margin? I'm not sure that those are the numbers that we are disclosing. What can you say, Jérôme?
No, I can say that roughly, you know, the part of the JV Green Air on the 49% stake of EBITDA is around EUR 10 million. As regards to EBIT margin, you're right, François, we are not basically disclosing that, but I would say it's very close to the average of Air Liquide Group. Of course, you know, with potential for something proven as we have in the roadmap with all the synergies and efficiencies that we'll be able to deliver. That's where we stand.
Okay, thank you very much.
Thank you.
Next question, please.
Yes, of course. Just give us a moment. The question comes from the line of Alejandro Vigil from Santander. Your line is open. Please ask a question.
Yes, thank you for taking my questions. The first one is if you can discuss about the current size of your business in Korea. The combination of both companies will make probably a big player there. If you can elaborate on market share, potential competition issues, and potential remedies of this transaction. The second question is about some other M&A opportunities. If you think this is a very special opportunity, or you think there are some other markets in which you see the possibility of using your balance sheet to increase your business. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Alejandro. Ronnie, do you want to talk a little bit about our current activity and see what you can say about the position that we have and that we will have in Korea?
Thank you very much, François. Indeed, our own business in Korea today is roughly the same size as the business which is being acquired. The point that François made is absolutely true. We are both very different. The complementarity of the footprint is incredible. I know we have this electronic business in DIG with strong carrier gases, which Air Liquide has very little, but we have all this advanced material capability. Again, although we're a similar size, for example, if you go to the Yeosu basin in the south, you can find standing within a few kilometers of each other, Air Liquide's biggest hydrogen business in Korea, a large basin. Right next door to it, DIG's ASUs. Again, when you go to IM, there's a large bulk business to which we will bring ASUs on-site capability. Very similar size. Although they're a similar size, very complementary. A lot of complementarity.
In terms of the market share, I don't think we're exposing that today. I'll take guidance from the rest of you.
Okay. Thank you very much, Ronnie. As mentioned, we are doubling the size of the business. To the point of Ronnie about the complementarity, we do not expect a specific topic regarding competition regulation. Of course, this is an independent process. We will work with the authorities to work with them and to demonstrate what we are doing. Again, we don't expect any significant topic on this matter due to the complementarity of the deal. Regarding the M&A and the acquisition, I think you understand very well that this fits in the strategy of the group overall, which is, again, if you come back to the basics of the strategy of Air Liquide, it's a growth-oriented strategy. We want to first invest in our core business directly.
As a matter of fact, we are investing and we have a portfolio of projects which is the highest in the history of the group. That really reflects our ability to secure business and to invest directly in new facilities for the group everywhere in the world. That's the number one. The number two is, and has always been, acquisitions. There are two types. Basically, the bolt-on acquisition that we continue to make. In the first part of the year, we did seven of those. That's mostly in IM and in home healthcare business. We continue to do that as we see opportunity to increase the density of our business in different parts of the world. The second type of the acquisition are more, I would say, strategic acquisitions. Today, given the structure of the global market, we don't see opportunities for major worldwide acquisitions.
However, there are some regions of the world or some countries where you have independent players which could be a target for acquisition. We continue to look at that. We have made in the history of Air Liquide significant acquisitions in the U.S., big freeze in the mid-1980s for the pipeline, but also in the U.S., of course, Airg as 10 years ago, acquisitions in Japan, in Germany, in different parts of the world. Always, when we see this strategic fit, we want to seize those opportunities. This is also the reason why it's so important for us to have the flexibility and the capability from a financial point of view to seize those opportunities. What we are able to do today is also the result of the increased performance of the group. You know that the leverage of the group is in the range of 33%, 34%.
This acquisition will add another 10%, probably around. We will be mid-40% in terms of giving us all the firepower to seize opportunities if we see opportunities which are strategic opportunities anywhere in the world. We will continue. Again, it's a mix of strategic view and opportunities. The good news is that we have the firepower to seize the opportunity. At the same time, we have enough organic growth to secure the growth of the group if we don't see M&A acquisition. All right. Next question, please.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. The question comes from the line of Jean-Luc Romain from CIC Market Solutions. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
My understanding is Macquarie did a refinancing of DIG Airg as last year. I was wondering if you plan to seek to refinance this debt at better interest rates once the acquisition is closed.
Good afternoon, Jean-Luc. Thank you very much for your question. Jérôme, do you want to answer this question, please?
Yes, Jean-Luc, you know, we will, I would say, finance the acquisition overall on an EV basis by issuing, you know, first making a finance, a bridge loan, or refinance by a bridge loan at the closing. Then we will refinance long-term at a later stage. You know, the bond market is quite very attractive, either on a euro standpoint or either on a loan basis, but not. We will basically refinance the whole package.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you very much. I think we have the next question, please.
Yes, of course. The next question comes from the line of Chetan Udeshi from JPMorgan. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for my question. I think the first question I had was going back to your comment around the structure of the South Korean market, very export-driven. I'm just curious if you factored in any risk associated with the growing trade wars and if any of the projects that DIG has in the backlog or existing in their footprint might be at risk of the customers suffering because of these trade wars. That's one. Second, I'm just curious. You mentioned your revenue is broadly the same as DIG's, and even though DIG is actually more exposed to on-site, I would have thought given that the CapEx intensity will be higher than yours in Korea, that revenue should be higher. To ask the question bluntly, is DIG running at a much lower return than what you do as a group and at the Korean level?
The last question was on your multiple, including backlog. Can you confirm if the CapEx associated with that backlog is already spent by DIG, or are you going to spend that CapEx, and how is that accounted for in that multiple? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Chetan, and good afternoon. I will ask Ronnie to give a little bit of color of Korea. Ronnie knows very well Korea. I mean, all of us have been in Korea many, many times, but Ronnie is, I would say, the local one, so he can give some color. Jérôme will answer the two other questions. Ronnie.
Definitely. The great thing about this acquisition for us is we know Korea very well. We know the basins that DIG is operating in, and we know their customers. Probably one of the things that impressed us was the quality of the customers in the customer base. Some people probably will say, Chetan, as you mentioned, it could be some risk. I think that the environment where Korea and the U.S. have settled their discussions at around 15% tariff rates is probably what the Korean industry was expecting and certainly what our existing and new major customers will expect. There is a lot of confidence in the quality of DIG's customer base. Probably because this is a growth-driven acquisition, the prospectives that we see and the opportunities to grow are an equally impressive quality list. Thank you for that question, Chetan. I hope it answers.
Thank you very much, Ronnie. Chetan, I think you have really to keep in mind that this is an acquisition that we do, which is a growth acquisition, and we do that for the long term. Of course, we are working to make sure that it has a short-term contribution. What is driving us is really to understand the fundamentals of the economy, not only the gas intensity, but also the leading position of key players because that's what makes the difference. We have really this long-term vision. We are making this acquisition to take a position for the long term because we think that it's going to create value over time. Jérôme, do you want to answer the two other questions, please?
Yes, François. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Chetan.
Good to hear you. Second question, which is I would like to maybe summarize on, is DIG exposure to AI, meaning that is DIG running at a lower return compared to the group? I would say that, you know, it's difficult to mention that due diligence, but we have basically the same returns that we have in Air Liquide as a whole. That's basically what we have for this. As you say, you know, AI is around 40% of sales for DIG, which is a higher share than we have in Air Liquide Korea. That's what I can say to you today. Now, the multiple, your question is absolutely, I would say, very good and very accurate. Is the CapEx associated with the multiple on the EBITDA related to backlog? It's an excellent question. The answer is yes.
We have about more than EUR60 million equivalent EBITDA in the backlog that would contribute in the until 2030. This is associated to EUR 240 million of CapEx associated. We have made the calculation of the multiple based on this. It's great to hear you.
That's great. Thank you.
We have, of course, the EBITDA, you know, is made upon the same type of calculation that you're used to.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I think one important element also is that this backlog, we do expect, I mean, more than 50% of the backlog to already contribute by 2027. Again, not only secure projects, but projects that will contribute quickly to the growth of Air Liquide in Korea.
Yeah, it's an important precision here.
Thank you very much. I think we may have a couple more questions. Next question, please.
Yes, of course. We are going to take our next question. It comes from the line of James Hooper from Bernstein. Your line is open. Please ask the question.
Hi. Thank you very much for taking my questions. I've got two more, please. The first question is about the growth projections for Korea, particularly in the on-site business where DIG, a higher business, bigger than you. We've seen, for example, this week that the Korean government is working with the petchem players to cut perhaps 25% of capacity, given weak margins there. Is this factored into your Korean growth projections where it's going to be electronics leading the way and perhaps there might be some on-site capacity cuts? The second question is a bit about these 19 projects. Could you please just give us a breakdown? Are these mostly electronics projects or clean energy, or can you please give us a bit of a mix, please? Thank you.
Thank you very much, James, and good afternoon. I would ask Ronnie to answer probably the two questions. The first one on the growth and how we have included the assumption and also on some colors on the project on the backlog. Ronnie, please.
Yes, thank you very much, François. It's true that we have listened to the Korean government who is reacting to the concerns coming from the petchem sector in particular. I think I mentioned earlier that DIG's portfolio is across 10 basins. The depth and the quality of the customers in those basins gives us a lot of confidence. François mentioned earlier that we see a long-term opportunity for the Korean economy. Even though that's true, taking into account any restructuring, I think that we're even going to benefit from the benefits of consolidation because of the strong position we have and the quality of the assets that we have in the petchem sector. If we look ahead to your question about the 19 projects, it's actually quite diverse. The projects are already well underway. Much of the capital is already spent. It's not mostly electronics.
It's spread across nearly all of the basins, in fact. The largest projects are indeed electronics ones. On average, it's pretty evenly split, more or less in line with our sales, in fact.
Thank you very much, Ronnie. As a matter of fact, we have to keep in mind also that the largest projects to come, the ones that I mentioned in my introduction, are probably electronics projects on one hand. Those are not taken into account and are not secured yet because they will materialize in the near future. The other wave of projects, which is quite important, and we have already had some successes on this, is the energy transition to decarbonize the industry. That is also where the large industry position of Air Liquide and of DIG could play a key role. Thank you very much. I think we have a last question before we conclude. Please.
Thank you. The last question for today comes from the line of Sebastian Bray from Berenberg. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Hello. Good afternoon, and thank you for taking my questions. I'd have two, please. The first is just on Air Liquide's history in Korea because it was picked up in the press today that Air Liquide had exited large parts of its Korean business back in 2014. If I'm not mistaken, what was then known as Daesan Air Liquide is now part of DIG Airgas. What was the reason for exiting in 2014? What is the reason for coming back now? What has changed? My second question is just on, it's a combination of the net income accretion that's expected from this deal because I can see that, let's say, it does $150 million of EBITDA in year one. The D&A appears to be about $50 million. I'm not sure of what local Korean tax rates are, but it might be something like 25%.
If I take that, it basically implies the financing to be accretive in year one has to be struck at about 2.6%- 2.7%, which is quite low. I'm just wondering if there's anything wrong in my calculation there. Moreover, if this is right and let's say the regulator digs its heels in, are there any break fees, anything associated with long stop of acquisition that Air Liquide would have to pay if the remedial divestments get too big? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Sebastian, and good afternoon. I will ask Jérôme right away to share this question, and then I will come back to the first point about DIG and the history of Air Liquide in Korea. Jérôme, please.
No, Sebastian, thank you very much for this question. In terms of profitable net accretiveness of the project, there's absolutely no doubt. The first year, when there is an integration, it's a bit particular with specific cost of integration and so on. We believe that we'll do that in one year after the closing. Let's say a few months, nearly one year to process this. That will have some extra cost that will enter the net profit the first year. Immediately after this integration, this will be accretive and there is absolutely no doubt on that. Of course, based on everything we explained, the secured backlog, the cost efficiencies, and everything that we put on earth to create, I would say, immediate value to the project. That's basically where we stand. Accretive debt is absolutely, I would say, not only a commitment, but will be done and delivered.
All right. Thank you very much, Jérôme. Let me come back a little bit to the history of Air Liquide and DIG. Sebastian, you're absolutely right. I mean, DIG many years ago used to mean Daesung Industrial Gases. We were actually one of the partners of this company at that time. DIG now is a completely different company. One of the reasons we exited that joint venture is that we were a minority partner with limited impact on the business at that time. For us, that was absolutely not the conditions to bring, I would say, the best of Air Liquide to the South Korean market. Since that time, the name has remained, but the company that we have acquired or we will acquire is very different. It has grown a lot and transformed a lot. The mix of the business, the type of the company is quite different.
The business opportunities also are quite different. It's the same, quote-unquote, name or acronym, but really a different company. Also, the fact that we have developed in parallel our business and we can combine the two is really a great way to accelerate our position in South Korea and make us a strong player there. That's what is behind the name DIG. I really would like to thank you very much for your attention today. Again, I appreciate that you took the time on a very short notice. I hope that you share really our excitement about this great opportunity. I hope also that through this call, you better understand the strategic rationale of this growth acquisition. You also clearly understand how it fits within our overall strategy. I hope also that you've got a sense that really it's making us much stronger in key markets.
I think we have tried to illustrate the complementarity of the two businesses. I think also that after this call, you clearly see the value creation short term, but also long term for all our stakeholders. With this, we will end the call. I'd like to wish all of you a good afternoon, a good weekend. For some of you, maybe still a little bit of a summer break. We will be delighted to follow up with some of you during our roadshows in September with the Air Liquide management team. Thank you very much, and please take care.