The majority of the shareholders of the Dax group Linde voted to withdraw from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. According to the preliminary results, at least around 93 percent of the shareholders gave the go-ahead for this step at an extraordinary general meeting, the industrial gases group announced on Wednesday. The withdrawal from the German stock market should take place on or around March 1, subject to approval by the supervisory authorities. The official voting results are to be presented within four days.
German fund companies had announced that they would refuse to approve the step. With the withdrawal of Linde, Deutsche Börse loses by far its largest Dax value. Linde had justified the withdrawal plans with the additional effort involved in accounting and valuation issues. The project triggered a debate about the competitiveness of the German financial center in an international comparison.