MUNICH (Reuters) - Linde (>> Linde AG) and Praxair (>> Praxair, Inc.) expect to have to divest assets above all in the United States to satisfy anti-trust concerns as the two industrial gases groups prepare for their $73 billion merger, Linde's chief executive said.

Aldo Belloni declined to give more details at a news conference on Friday of the analysis the two companies had made of what they may have to sell, but said they had defined a "pain threshold" at which point they would revisit the merger deal.

Praxair Chief Executive Steve Angel said: "If half of your businesses are forced to be divested then maybe you don't have a strategic logic any more," adding that neither party expected this to happen.

The boards of German Linde and U.S.-based Praxair agreed on Thursday night to approve the merger, which will create the world's biggest industrial gases group if it is completed, overtaking France's Air Liquide (>> Air Liquide).

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Maria Sheahan)

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