Sika continues to oppose the projects of Saint-Gobain – Boursorama

SIKA REMAINS COMMITTED TO COUNTER PROJECTS Saint-Gobain

ZURICH (Reuters) – The board of directors of the Swiss chemical company Sika wants to buy back its majority shareholder to try to counter a takeover by Saint -Gobain, reported Sunday the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung, citing two unidentified sources.

The SWH holding the Burkard-Schenker family, Sika controlling shareholder with 16.1% of capital and 52.4 % of voting rights, concluded in December an agreement with the French building materials group to cede control of the chemist, to 2.75 billion Swiss francs (2.65 billion euros).

But the opposition to the direction of Sika, supported by several board members and institutional investors, blocks the operation and set off a long legal and regulatory battle.

When the general meeting held last Tuesday, the president of Sika Hälg Paul said that the board had developed an alternative to that of Saint-Gobain, without specifying its content.

This alternative provides for the repurchase of all Sika shares held by the family holding SWH to 2.25 billion francs, or 500 million francs less than Saint-Gobain, writes SonntagsZeitung sources “well informed”.

No one from Sika was immediately available for comment.

A spokesman for SWH said in a statement that the holding company had not aware of any proposal and that any arrangement in which Saint-Gobain was not involved would be unacceptable to Burkard family.

Another alternative, in which the family would retain a portion of its shares to to benefit from any possible increase in their stock value could be proposed to offset the shortfall of 500 million francs in the offer of the board, said the Swiss newspaper.

(Alice Baghdjian, Juliette Rouillon for the French service, edited by Marc Angrand)

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