TIDMCOD
RNS Number : 9064T
Compagnie de Saint-Gobain
23 July 2015
July 23, 2015
The European Commission unconditionally authorises Saint
Gobain's acquisition of control over Sika
Saint-Gobain welcomes the European Commission's decision of July
22(nd) 2015, which has unconditionally authorised Saint Gobain's
acquisition of control over Sika.
The European Commission has conducted a thorough investigation
and extensive market tests to assess whether and in which areas
Saint-Gobain and Sika currently compete. It concludes that both
groups' activities are largely complementary, also in the area of
mortars. The limited overlaps do not raise any competition law
concerns. This is perfectly in line with the other unconditional
clearances that Saint-Gobain has already received for this
acquisition for example in the United States of America and
China.
With regard to the state of competition between Sika and
Saint-Gobain in mortars, market participants confirmed that "Even
though Weber also produces some specialist mortars, they are not
perceived by customers as substitutes for Sika's mortars." (item
41, page 9 of the Commission decision). The European Commission, an
independent and impartial authority, therefore concludes: "Sika and
Saint-Gobain do not generally seem to be close competitors as their
offerings are rather complementary in terms of quality and brand
perception" ( item 42, page 10 of the Commission decision).
These statements confirm the industrial logic of the
transaction. They are also perfectly in line with Sika's own
communications before December 2014, which emphasised neither
mortars as a strategic priority nor Saint-Gobain as a competitor.
They clearly contradict Sika's systematic allegations regarding the
competitive situation between the two groups, which, according to
Sika's board, justifies its opposition to the transaction.
The European Commission's decision also shows that the markets
on which Saint-Gobain and Sika are active are very competitive.
Both Saint-Gobain and Sika will undoubtedly be stronger facing this
competition together and there is a significant potential for
synergies.
After FINMA has confirmed last week that Saint-Gobain and the
Burkard family do not form a group, with the decision of the
European Commission, it is another key argument of Sika's board
opposition that collapses.
These recent events are additional reasons justifying that the
board of Sika cannot validly reduce the voting rights of SWH,
notably at Sika's Extraordinary General Meeting on 24 July.
ABOUT SAINT-GOBAIN
In 2015, Saint-Gobain is celebrating its 350(th) anniversary,
350 reasons to believe in the future. Backed by its experience and
its capacity to continuously innovate, Saint-Gobain, the world
leader in the habitat and construction market, designs,
manufactures and distributes high-performance and building
materials providing innovative solutions to the challenges of
growth, energy efficiency and environmental protection. With 2014
sales of EUR41 billion, Saint-Gobain operates in 64 countries and
has over 180,000 employees. For more information about
Saint-Gobain, visit www.saint-gobain.com and the twitter account
@saintgobain or download the "Saint-Gobain Shareholder" application
for tablet and smartphone.
Analyst/Investor Relations Media Relations
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+33 1 47 62 32
52 +33 1 47 62
Gaetano Terrasini +33 1 47 62 44 30 48
Vivien Dardel 29 +33 1 47 62 Sophie Chevallon +33 1 47 62
Marine Huet 30 93 Susanne Trabitzsch 43 25
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