Directors of Sika, a Swiss chemical company, have offered to buy out the family owners “in an attempt to end a two-year battle over its future,”
the
Financial Times
reported.
The family owns 16% of the shares but controls 53% of the voting rights, the
FT
article said. Five fourth-generation members no longer want to be involved with the company, according to the report.
A court blocked the family's attempt to sell its controlling stake to Saint-Gobain, a French company, the
FT
article said. The family would have technically sold a holding company that held its Sika stake, the article said.
“Sika has become a test case for shareholders' rights in Switzerland and highlighted the problems that can arise when new generations of family owners move to sell their stakes in long-established companies,” the
FT
report said.
In December 2014, Saint-Gobain offered to buy the family's stake for 2.75 billion Swiss francs without making an offer to the other shareholders, the article said. Sika's board “objected to what would in effect be a French takeover and, backed by employees, blocked the deal by using a ‘restriction of voting rights' clause in the company's statutes,” the article said.
The family said it would appeal the court ruling, the
FT
reported. (Source:
Financial Times
, Oct. 31, 2016.)
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