Sika board faces fresh legal assault from founder’s family

The controlling shareholders of Swiss company Sika have launched a new legal challenge against the company’s board after their vote was restricted at a second successive annual general meeting. The Burkard family, which owns 52% of Sika’s voting rights, wants to sell its stake to French industrial conglomerate Saint-Gobain. But Sika’s directors object to the takeover and have controversially foiled attempts to vote them off the board by artificially limiting AGM votes. For a second year in a row the Burkard family members, via their Schenker-Winkler Holding (SWH) structure, have lodged a legal objection to their voting rights being stifled. Last year, a court refused to deliver a definitive verdict until another legal issue had been cleared up. That ruling - on whether the Burkards can sell their stake via SWH without prior Sika board approval -. is expected this autumn. The Burkard clan are descendants of the company’s founder, Kaspar Winkler. In the meantime, the ...