Munich: Finalising a merger with Praxair is likely to take “several months”, the chief executive of Linde said in a letter to a shareholder association, reiterating he saw no need to ask shareholders to vote on the $65 billion deal. German industrial gases group Linde and US rival Praxair announced in December their intention to merge to create a global leader, saying at the time they expected to execute a definitive business combination agreement “as soon as possible” in the coming months. In a letter to German retail-shareholder association DSW filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Linde CEO Aldo Belloni rejected criticism he was not informing shareholders sufficiently about the progress of discussions with Praxair.