BUSINESSHIGHLIGHTS
SWITZERLAND
Saint-Gobain approach
provokes Sika schism
Argument erupts betweenBoard and family owners
of Swiss chemicalmaker following takeover offer
T
he management of construction chemical maker Sika has reacted
angrily to construction materials giant Saint-Gobain’s bid to take
control of the company. The deal would involve buying-out the
controlling family’s stake inSika,without apublicoffer toother shareholders.
Saint-Gobainplans topurchaseSchenkerWinklerHolding’s (SWH’s) stake
in the company, which represents 16.1% of Sika’s capital, but 52.4% of its
voting rights, for CHF 2.75 billion (US$ 2.8 billion). SWH is a company
owned by the Burkard-Schenker family, which has historically controlled
Sika.
A statement from Sika’s Board said, “Sika’s ownership structure is unique.
For historic reasons the Burkard family was able to control Sika with only a
16% share in the capital. 84% is owned by public shareholders, which will
not receive anoffer for their shares.”
Thenon-family appointedboardmembers of Sikahave said theywill resign
enmass if the deal goes through.
In an attempt to force the issue, SWH has requested an extraordinary
general meeting (EGM) at which it proposed to remove three key dissenters
to the deal from the Board, including chairmanDr. Paul Hälg, and replace
themwith its own appointees.
The Board reacted by reducing SWH’s voting rights down to 5%, which
would mean it no longerhas thepower to call anEGMormake thisnumber
of appointments. A statement said, “The articles of association of Sika AG
provide for registered shareholders not toholdmore than5%of all registered
shares.Only theBurkard family and SWHhave always been exempted from
this rule. This exceptional privilege is solely attributable to the Burkard
family's close association with Sika.... Now that the Burkard family/SWH
have formed a group with Saint-Gobain, this historical privilege must be
considered lost.”
Saint-Gobain responded by saying, “Saint-Gobain has taken notice of the
acts of the Board of Directors of Sika. Saint-Gobain is advised by its legal
counsel that these actions are clearly against all corporate law and governance
principles inSwitzerland.”
AUSTRALIA
Chinesebuyer
A deal worth € 770 million (US$
947 million) has been agreed by
Hochtief
subsidiary
Leighton
Holdings for the sale of €2.5billion
(US$3.9billion) per yearAustralian
contractor John Holland to China
Communications
Construction
Company.
In a separate move, Leighton has
sold half of its assets services arm
to Apollo Global Management for
AU$700million (US$570million).
Apollowill forma50:50partnership
with Leighton to manage merged
maintenance services of Thiess
Services and Leighton Contractors
Services. This will make it one of
the largest service companies in
Australia, with revenues of AU$ 2.2
billion (US$1.8billion).
GERMANY
Bilfinger sale
Bilfinger has agreed to sell
its construction division to
Switzerland-based Implenia, for a
reported net gain of € 230 million
(US$255million).Themove comes
following a string of profit warnings
fromBilfinger last year.
IRELAND
CRH interested
CRH has confirmed it is in
discussionswithLafargeandHolcim
to acquire businesses. The two
companies previously announced
a major divestment programme as
part of gaining regulatory approval
for their proposed merger. CRH is
thefirstmajorplayer in thematerials
industry todeclare its interest.
GERMANY
Hanson sold
HeidelbergCement sold itsHanson
Building Products subsidiary for
US$ 1.4 billion. The deal with
private equity company Lone Star
Funds is for Heidelberg's US and
UK concrete building products
businesses. The company said
this would clear the way for the it
to focus on its core raw materials
operations.
VALUEOF 1:
SYMBOL AU$
BRL
UK£ CNY
€
INR
YEN MXN RUR SAR
ZAR KRW CHF
US$
AustralianDollar
AU$
0.49 0.526 4.96 0.703 48.8
94
11.59 52.7
2.98
9.05
858 0.713 0.794
BrazilianReal
BRL
2.05
0.257 2.42 0.343 23.8
45.9
5.66
25.7
1.46
4.42
419 0.348 0.388
BritishPound
UK£
1.90
3.89
9.4
1.34
92.8
179
22.0 100.2 5.67
17.2
1630 1.36
1.51
Chinese Yuan
CNY
0.202 0.413 0.106
0.142 9.84
18.9
2.34 10.62 0.602 1.824
173 0.144 0.160
Euro
€
1.42
2.91
0.75
7.05
69.4
134
16.5
74.9
4.24 12.87 1220 1.01
1.13
IndianRupee
INR
0.020 0.042 0.011 0.102 0.014
1.9
0.237 1.080 0.0611 0.185 17.6 0.0146 0.0163
Japanese Yen
YEN
0.011 0.022 0.006 0.053 0.007 0.519
0.1233 0.561 0.0318 0.0963 9.1 0.0076 0.0084
MexicanPeso
MXN
0.086 0.177 0.045 0.428 0.061 4.21
8.11
4.55 0.258 0.781
74
0.062 0.0685
RussianRuble
RUR
0.019 0.039 0.010 0.094 0.013 0.93
1.78 0.220
0.057 0.172 16.3 0.0135 0.0151
Saudi Riyal
SAR
0.335 0.686 0.176 1.662 0.236 16.356 31.489 3.883 17.660
3.03
288 0.239 0.266
SouthAfricanRand ZAR
0.111 0.226 0.058 0.548 0.078 5.395 10.386 1.281 5.825 0.330
95
0.079 0.088
SouthKoreanWon KRW
0.0012 0.0024 0.0006 0.0058 0.0008 0.0569 0.1095 0.0135 0.0614 0.0035 0.0105
0.00083 0.0009
Swiss Franc
CHF
1.40
2.87
0.74
6.95
0.99 68.41 131.70 16.24 73.86 4.18 12.68 1202
1.112
USDollar
US$
1.26
2.58 0.663 6.25 0.886 61.5 118.4 14.6
66.4
3.76
11.4
1081 0.899
For exampleUS$ 1=AU$ 1.26
Exchange rates: January 2015
NIGERIA
Salini Impregilo haswon the
contract for Phase II of the upgrade of
the Suleja-Minna highway inNigeria.
The project to expand 101 km the road
to a dual carriageway is valued at
€
112million (US$125million).
SPAIN
Carlos Slim, theMexican
billionairewho acquired a controlling
stake in FCC inDecember has
personally taken a seat on theBoard.
He has also appointed three other
boardmembers, including theCEO of
Carso Inmobiliaria, of whichControl
Empresarial deCapitales – the vehicle
throughwhichMr Slim bought his
shares in FCC– is a subsidiary.
UK
The John LaingGroup has
confirmed its intention to launch an
initial public offering (IPO) and is
applying to list shares on the London
Stock Exchange. It hopes to raiseUK£
130million (US$ 195million). The
company says it has a portfolio valued
at UK£ 781million (US$ 1.18 billion),
including 44 projects. It alsomanages
UK£965million (US$1.45 billion) of
third party assets.
CANADA
RitchieBros. Auctioneers
soldUS$ 4.2 billionworth of equipment
through 349 auctions last year. This
was a new record for the company and
a+10.5% increase on its gross auction
proceeds in 2013. Other keymetrics
included an increase in the total
number of buyers at industrial auctions
from 104,550 in 2013 to 112,900 last
year. The number of lots soldwas up
to 319,500, from 301,000 in 2013.
international
construction
january-february 2015
BUSINESSNEWS
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