MOSCOW (MRC) -- French building materials group Saint-Gobain (Paris, France), through its subsidiary Schenker-Winkler Holding AG (SWH), has started to dispose of its entire 10.75% stake in the Swiss construction chemicals company Sika (Baar, Switzerland) through a private placement to institutional investors, said Chemweek.
The placement will start immediately and the outcome and final terms will be announced by the end of today. At yesterday’s Sika share price, the transaction, involving approximately 15.2 million Sika shares, would be valued at 2.65 billion Swiss francs (USD2.73 billion). Sika has chosen not to exercise its right of first offer for the Saint-Gobain holding.
The move brings to an end a long-running saga that began in 2014 when Saint-Gobain offered CHF2.75 billion to buy control of Sika from the Burkhard family, descendants of the company’s founder. The family holding company, SWH, owned only 16% of the share capital but enjoyed 53% of the voting rights. Sika’s management objected, supported by public and institutional shareholders, and argued their case through the Swiss courts.
In May 2018 Sika and Saint-Gobain agreed to end their almost four-year legal battle. Under the settlement, Saint-Gobain acquired a 10.75% interest in Sika indirectly through the acquisition of 100% of SWH shares from the family, as part of a comprehensive agreement between Saint-Gobain, the family and Sika, at a cost of CHF3.22 billion. Following expiry of the two-year lock-up period set out in the agreement, Saint-Gobain and SWH decided to dispose of the Sika shareholding.
Citigroup is acting as sole global coordinator on the private placement. Citigroup and Lazard are acting as financial advisers to Saint-Gobain.
As MRC informed earlier, Sika is starting operations at a plant in Doha, Qatar, for the production of concrete admixtures. The country on the east coast of the Arabian peninsula is an attractive market thanks to large-scale infrastructure investment and a number of mega projects.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, March 2020 estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics dropped by 2% year on year, totalling 42,130 tonnes. The estimated consumption totalled 121,880 tonnes in the first three months of 2020, down by 2% year on year. Overall, Russian plants produced 42,790 tonnes in March 2020. Overall output of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) totalled 32,100 tonnes in March 2020. 98,390 tonnes of HIPS and GPPS were produced in January-March 2020. The decrease in Russian plants' output was 3%.
Sika, a specialist in sealants and adhesives with origins dating back to 1910, employs some 25,000 people and has more than 300 plants worldwide. The group reported sales of CHF8.1 billion in the financial year 2019.
MRC