Proxinvest Swiss partner within Expert Corporate Governance Service Ltd. (ECGS), Ethos, is very satisfied that an overall agreement has been signed between the board of directors of Sika, the Burkard family and Saint-Gobain to the benefit of all parties concerned and that safeguards the independence of the company. As an accessory party alongside the board of directors in the legal procedure opposing the company to the Burkard family, Ethos Foundation has always supported the efforts to maintain the independence of Sika. Ethos welcomes the decision of the board of directors to call an extraordinary general meeting on the 11th of June 2018 that will establish the equal treatment of all shareholders.
« As a long term shareholder of Sika, we are very pleased with the solution that has been found. We commend the good sense of the persons involved in the negotiations, which allows today Sika to continue its successful growth strategy as a standalone company » says Dominique Biedermann, Ethos’ chairman, who has regularly taken the floor at Sika’s general meetings to ask the parties to come together in order to find a solution.
This agreement allows bringing an immediate end to the conflict that started in December 2014 following the decision of the Burkard family to sell their stake in Sika (17% of the capital and 52% of the voting rights) to the competitor Saint-Gobain.
Following the arrangement signed by the parties, Ethos supports the decision of the board of directors to simplify the structure of the company’s share capital and to introduce without delay the equal treatment of shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting that will take place on the 11th of June. The shareholders will be called to approve the proposal to introduce a single class of registered shares as well as to remove the registration limit and the opting-out clause.
May 2018
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