The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Thanks, Charlie—I can’t (yet) claim to fully understand the organic chemistry that underpins this discussion, but your feedback is much appreciated.

…one of my concerns would be competition from companies like Air Liquide and Praxair. I suspect this is a business where there are a lot of shady (non-free market) things that happen in the background that would give Air Liquide an advantage in countries where English is not the primary language.

Did you see my related post about SNY’s business in Venezuela (#msg-48495427)? Your contention vis-à-vis Air Liquide is undoubtedly true to some degree.

PX is a strong competitor; however, compared to APD, PX is more focused on bottled gasses and less on tonnage gasses*, which is the segment we’ve been talking about. (Please see #msg-46518659, which is excerpted from APD’s 10K report.)

*As far as I know; if this is wrong, please post a correction!