Sika shrugs off founding family's St Gobain push
Sika has shrugged off the latest legal bid by its founding shareholders to push through a SFr2.75bn sale of their stake in the Swiss industrial group to French rival St Gobain.
The family's SWH group asked a court in Zug to overturn key resolutions taken at an April shareholder meeting which the family was not allowed to use its full voting rights in, reports Laura Noonan, investment banking correspondent.
Had the family been allowed to vote, it would have paved the way for the controversial sale of their stake to France's St Gobain.
Sika said on Monday that:
Irrespective of this legal action, which was already announced some time ago, Sika remains convinced that SWH's attempted sale of Sika to Saint-Gobain is legally not viable in this form and makes no entrepreneurial sense.
The sale is controversial because St Gobain wants to take control of Sika by paying an 80 per cent premium for SWH's 16 per cent stake in the company, which also carries 52 per cent of Sika's voting rights.
Other shareholders will not get an offer from St Gobain.