Sector News

Categories

Borderless Insights

Image
Negotiating Terms with a New Employer
Image
Beyond Flowers and Platitudes: Reclaiming the Essence of International Women’s Day
Image
Visionary or ‘Stuck-in-the-Mud’? Where are you on Workplace Flexibility?

Sika wants to buy Burkard stake to thwart French takeover -paper

April 20, 2015
Energy & Chemical Value Chain
(Reuters) – Sika’s board of directors wants to buy out the company’s major shareholder to try to stop a takeover of the Swiss chemicals business by France’s Saint-Gobain, SonntagsZeitung newspaper reported, citing two unnamed sources.
 
The French group agreed in December to buy from the Burkard-Schenker family a 16.1 percent stake that carries 52.4 percent of Sika’s voting rights – enough for control and, at 2.75 billion Swiss francs ($2.89 billion), a far cheaper option than buying the whole company.
 
However, opposition from the Sika’s management and many board members has obstructed the deal, and a lengthy court and regulatory battle for control of the Swiss chemicals firm now looms.
 
At Sika’s annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, Chairman Paul Haelg said the board had prepared an alternative to the Saint-Gobain deal.
 
The alternative involves buying all the shares held by Schenker-Winkler Holding (SWH), a vehicle of the Burkard-Schenker family, for 2.25 billion francs, 500 million francs less than Saint-Gobain’s offer, SonntagsZeitung reported, citing two “well-informed” sources.
 
Representatives of Sika were not immediately available outside office hours to comment on or verify the report.
 
A spokesman for SWH said in an emailed statement that the investment vehicle was not aware of any proposal and that any arrangement in which Saint-Gobain was not part of the solution would be unacceptable for the Burkard family.
 
Another alternative arrangement, in which the controlling family would retain a part of their stake for the time being to profit from any rise in value of the shares, could be adopted to compensate for the 500 million franc shortfall in the board’s offer, the Swiss newspaper said. ($1 = 0.9517 Swiss francs) (Reporting By Alice Baghdjian; Editing by David Goodman)
 

comments closed

Related News

May 4, 2024

Heikki Malinen appointed as the President and CEO of Neste Corporation

Energy & Chemical Value Chain

Neste Corporation’s Board of Directors has appointed Heikki Malinen, M.Sc. (Econ.), MBA (Harvard) as the President and CEO of Neste as of 2 November 2024, at the latest. Malinen joins Neste from Outokumpu Corporation where he has held the position of President and CEO since 2020.

Read more
May 4, 2024

Rossouw to step down as Sasol CFO in October

Energy & Chemical Value Chain

Petrochemicals company Sasol has announced that CFO and executive director Hanré Rossouw will step down from his position, effective October 31. Sasol has started the process to appoint a successor. Rossouw will still oversee the publication of Sasol’s reports for the financial year ending June 30, to allow for a structured handover period.

Read more
May 4, 2024

Chemours CFO Jonathan Lock resigns following code of ethics violations

Energy & Chemical Value Chain

Chemours announced its CFO Jonathan Lock has resigned from all positions within the company, according to an SEC 8-K filing on April 23. The resignation comes in the aftermath of the company announcing that Lock, former CEO Mark Newman, and principal accounting officer Camela Wisel, had been placed on administrative leave.

Read more
More news

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach