Deals
Sika Family Sale to St. Gobain Cuts Old Management Ties
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A century after Kaspar Winkler laid the foundation for Sika AG with a sealant used to waterproof Switzerland’s Gotthard tunnel, his descendants have thrown the company into disarray by quietly deciding to sell out.
The Burkard family, Winkler’s fourth-generation offspring and Sika’s biggest shareholder, agreed to sell its 16.1 percent stake and control of the voting rights to Cie. de Saint-Gobain SA. The move caught both the management and investors off guard, with the stock sliding the most on record. Sika’s chief executive officer went into open rebellion and threatened to quit, while his counterpart at France’s Saint-Gobain sought to defuse the situation, saying they had been approached.