Sika founders appeal against voting rights ruling

Sika is a speciality chemical company which manufactures and supplies products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing and protecting in the building sector and the industry Keystone

The family owners of Swiss chemicals manufacturer Sika have lodged an official appeal against a court decision last month to uphold the board’s strategy to stop the planned sale of the family’s stake to French industrial group Saint-Gobain.

The family’s holding company Schenker-Winkler Holding (SWH) wants the high court in Zug to dismiss the decision of the lower court on October 27, which upheld Sika management’s right to restrict the Burkard family votes during the past two annual general meetings.

SWH said in a statement on Tuesday that resolutions of the 2015 Sika annual general meeting “passed only because of the unlawful restriction of SWH’s voting rights”.

The legal battle centres on a feud dating back to December 2014 between the descendants of Sika’s founder versus the company’s board and other shareholders.

It was then that the Burkard family announced it was selling its 16% capital stake in the firm to Saint-Gobain for CHF2.75 billion ($2.71 billion). The family controls 53% of voting rights for Sika via SWH.