Family ‘maintains a strong grip' at Swiss drug firm




The founding family controls half the shareholder voting rights and “maintains a firm grip” at Roche, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group,

the

Financial Times

noted

in a recent interview with André Hoffmann, the fourth-generation vice chairman.

The founding family controls half the shareholder voting rights and “maintains a firm grip” at Roche, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group,

the

Financial Times

noted

in a recent interview with André Hoffmann, the fourth-generation vice chairman.


Roche, a market leader in cancer drugs, “has been one of the world's best-performing pharma companies in the past decade,” the


FT


report noted. However, investors are concerned about prospects for the future, when Avastin, Herceptin and other Roche products lose patent protection, the article said.


Hoffmann, 57, succeeded his father, Luc, on the company's board in 1996. A cousin, Andreas Oeri, serves on the board as well. André Hoffmann alos is the chairman of the family's asset-management company, Massellaz, the


FT


article said.

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Hoffmann worked outside the company as a banker in London and as a project manager at Nestlé, the article said. “Some critics mutter abut a lack of pharmaceuticals experience on the Roche board, particularly since Franz Humer, a company veteran, stepped down as chairman last year to be replaced by Christoph Franz, former chief executive of Lufthansa, the German airline,” the


FT


report said.


“Family control of Roche is not as solid as it once was after Mr. Hoffmann's cousin, Maja Oeri, withdrew from the relatives' collective voting pool in 2011. This reduced the pool's holding from 50 per cent to 45 per cent, but Ms. Oeri has said she does not expect to vote against the family even if she is no longer formally bound to the group,” the


FT


article said. (Source:


Financial Times


, Sept. 22, 2015.)

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