“The decision has historical implications, because Linde has been part of the leading German index since it was founded in 1988,” says Joachim Schallmayer, Head of Capital Markets and Strategy at DekaBank. In addition to Linde, the only current members at the time were Allianz, BASF, Bayer, BMW, Mercedes-Benz Group, Deutsche Bank, E.on, Henkel, RWE, Siemens and Volkswagen.