In July last year, the UK-based BOC Group had agreed to the joint 11.7 billion takeover at 14.7 per share. Since then, the bid has been cleared by Canadian, European and Australian regulators. However, with the bid scheduled to lapse on May 12, no clearance had been given by the Federal Trade Commission of the US.

BOC India, a unit of the BOC Group, said in a release that the pre-conditional joint offer was to lapse on Friday following which the group confirmed its decision to ``pursue its strategy as an independent company...''

BOC said it is now clear that the FTC's approval is unlikely to be received by May 16, the proposed date for announcing of interim results by the BOC Group.

The UK-based group has been advised that the two companies - Air Products and Air Liquide - do neither intend to waive the pre-conditions nor seek an extension of the offer.

The board of BOC Group has confirmed that Tony Isaac as the new chief executive. He had been officiating as acting chief executive following the exit of Danny Rosenkranz in August last year.

Following the takeover announcement last year, the company has been going through a difficult period while the BOC management continued to focus on its performance.

Isaac has been quoted in the release as saying: ``Our destiny is now back in our own hands and I thank you all for your contribution to BOC over these recent months. We have continued to improve our performance and we can now concentrate on developing our position as one of the leading industrial gas companies.''

The release also adds that Isaac has said that he is not able to disclose all the elements of its new strategy immediately as they are confidential, but has assured that these will work quickly and positively.

The release quoted BOC India managing director Raman Pandya as saying that the business for the Indian outfit continues as usual. The company has already repositioned itself and segmented itself into various value-added divisions with focus on different consumer segments.

In fact, it had cut losses in the quarter to December 31 last year against the corresponding period in the previous year.

In India, Pandya has noted that the integrated ERP programme has been implemented in record time. The company is now cleaning up the balance-sheet which includes refinancing part of its long-term debts to save on interest costs. The company also expects to win some interesting projects with long-term implications.