MUNICH (Reuters) - The new company formed from the planned $70 billion (£54.1 billion) merger of Linde (>> Linde AG) and Praxair (>> Praxair, Inc.) will likely be based in Ireland with a tax domicile in Britain, its chief executive told shareholders on Wednesday.

"The new holding company should be a PLC (public limited company) under Irish law," Aldo Belloni said at the annual shareholder meeting of German industrial gases group Linde.

The German and Irish rivals had said they planned to put the headquarters of their new holding company in a European country outside Germany.

Operations are set to be run from Praxair's headquarters in Danbury, Connecticut, although Belloni said Linde's current home city of Munich would be bigger in terms of headcount.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Edward Taylor)

Stocks treated in this article : Praxair, Inc., Linde AG