A German newspaper has reported that Linde AG plans to find a buyer for its forklift division before the northern hemisphere summer.

The Die Welt report, picked up by Dow Jones International News and Reuters International, said Linde AG had appointed investment bank Morgan Stanley to organise the sale. Since Linde announced its intended takeover of UK gas group BOC, speculation has been rife that Linde would sell its forklift division to fund the acquisition (Forkliftaction.com News #244).

According to the report, an auction would be held after May.

Linde AG head of external communications Uwe Wolfinger said the report was "inaccurate".

"We did not appoint Morgan Stanley to sell the forklift business," he said. "As we said before we are considering various strategic options for our material handling business segment ... nothing is decided yet."