Air Liquide’s $1.25 Billion U.S. Dollar Bond Reaches Maturity

Air Liquide Finance’s 2.50% U.S. dollar notes due 2026 reach their contractual maturity on Sunday, September 27, closing out the 10-year tranche of a $4.5 billion dollar bond financing used to refinance Air Liquide’s 2016 acquisition of Airgas. The series was issued with $1.25 billion of principal, although the amount still outstanding was substantially lower by the time the maturity date arrived.

Air Liquide’s latest annual debt table before maturity listed $935 million of nominal value still due on the 2026 notes as of December 31, 2025. That figure is consistent with the company’s 2023 tender offer, when Air Liquide Finance accepted $315.014 million of the notes for early repurchase. The $1.25 billion figure therefore describes the original size of the bond series, not the principal remaining after that buyback.

Air Liquide’s current bond schedule lists the September 27, 2026 maturity, the 2.50% coupon, the Rule 144A format and ISIN US00913RAD89. The original pricing terms also specify a Following, Unadjusted business-day convention, with Paris or New York City used for the business-day test. Because September 27 falls on a Sunday in 2026, that convention matters for payment processing even though September 27 remains the contractual maturity date.

A 10-year piece of the Airgas refinancing comes due

The notes date back to September 2016, when Air Liquide Finance placed $4.5 billion of senior unsecured U.S. dollar bonds in five tranches. The maturities were three, five, seven, 10 and 30 years. The 10-year tranche carried the largest single principal amount in the sale at $1.25 billion, with a 2.50% annual coupon payable semiannually on March 27 and September 27.

The pricing term sheet put the 2026 notes at 99.622% of principal, with a 2.543% yield to maturity and a spread of 93 basis points over the referenced U.S. Treasury. Air Liquide Finance was the issuer and L’Air Liquide S.A. provided an unconditional guarantee. The securities were sold in Rule 144A and Regulation S formats and were not listed on an exchange.

The wider financing was closely tied to Air Liquide’s purchase of Airgas. Air Liquide had arranged a $12 billion bridge loan in December 2015 in connection with the acquisition. It later refinanced that borrowing through several steps, including a €3 billion bond issue in June 2016, a roughly €3.3 billion rights issue and the $4.5 billion U.S. dollar bond placement in September. Air Liquide described the dollar sale at the time as the final step in refinancing the Airgas acquisition and its first U.S. dollar bond issue.

Four of the five original dollar tranches have now reached their scheduled maturity dates: the 2019, 2021 and 2023 series came due earlier, and the 2026 notes reach maturity today. The remaining long-dated piece from the 2016 sale is the $750 million 3.50% series due September 27, 2046.

Air Liquide cut the maturity bill in 2023

The amount due on the 2026 series was reduced more than three years before maturity. In March 2023, Air Liquide Finance launched cash tender offers for the 2.50% notes due 2026 and the 3.50% notes due 2046. The company initially targeted up to $350 million of the 2026 notes, then increased the maximum tender amount to $400 million as the offer progressed.

By the April 11, 2023 expiration time, Air Liquide Finance had accepted $315.014 million of principal from the 2026 series. It also accepted $67.679 million from the 2046 notes. The two repurchases totaled $382.693 million of principal, which Air Liquide later summarized as $382 million of early bond redemption in its 2023 results materials.

Subtracting the accepted 2026 tenders from the original $1.25 billion principal leaves $934.986 million. Air Liquide’s 2025 Universal Registration Document rounded the outstanding amount to $935 million in its table of bond debt as of year-end. At the 2.50% coupon, that remaining principal corresponds to about $11.7 million for a standard six-month coupon period, before the repayment of principal at maturity.

The distinction matters for readers following the company’s debt schedule. A reference to a “$1.25 billion bond” correctly identifies the original issue, but it would overstate the principal still due if read as the current redemption amount. The company’s own year-end debt disclosure provides the cleaner reference point for the amount that remained outstanding going into 2026.

The maturity lands in an active funding cycle

The bond is maturing while Air Liquide continues to use capital markets to support acquisitions and a large investment program. At the end of 2025, the group reported €12.378 billion of gross debt and €8.416 billion of net debt. Long-term bonds and private placements represented 79% of gross debt, with €9.8 billion of notes outstanding, and the average maturity of group debt was 5.6 years.

Air Liquide also reported €8.8 billion of available liquidity at the end of 2025, including €3.9 billion of cash and cash equivalents and €4.85 billion of confirmed credit lines. Its debt policy emphasizes diversified funding sources and a spread of maturities intended to limit refinancing risk rather than concentrating repayments in a single period.

Funding activity continued in 2026. Air Liquide completed an inaugural Swiss-franc bond issue totaling CHF 640 million in the first half, and its bond schedule shows additional euro financing during June through taps of existing 2028, 2029 and 2033 notes as well as a €120 million private placement due in 2032. The group was also absorbing the roughly €3 billion acquisition of South Korea’s DIG Airgas, completed on January 13, 2026.

That financing activity sits alongside a heavy investment program. Air Liquide said first-half 2026 revenue was nearly €14 billion, investment decisions reached almost €3 billion and the investment backlog climbed to a record €6 billion. Cash flow from operating activities before changes in working capital rose 8% excluding currency effects, according to the company’s July results release.

After the 2026 dollar notes roll off, Air Liquide’s current public bond schedule shows the next listed maturity as €600 million of 1.00% notes due March 8, 2027. A $100 million private placement follows on September 13, 2027, with a €400 million floating-rate bond due on November 5, 2027. The September 2026 maturity is therefore a defined endpoint for one of the financing pieces put in place a decade ago to fund the Airgas acquisition, while the group’s broader debt program has already moved on to a new generation of maturities.