After years of arguments and delays, the final sell-off of the helium reserve at Cliffside was an anticlimax, with few bids. Christian Annesley updates on what happened
In the end, it was a damp squib – but a tremendous outcome for Messer.
When the auction of the US Federal Helium System went ahead in late January, despite some last-ditch industry attempts to stop it, the process concluded with only one realistic offer. The industrial gas company Messer, which has been operating the system on a contract basis very successfully, bid $353.35m for the system and all its assets, plus a further $70m (increased from an initial $21m bid) for a billion cubic feet of helium contained therein.
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