Sika CEO will quit if takeover succeeds

ZURICH ― Jan Jenisch, CEO of specialty chemicals manufacturer Sika, says he will resign if Saint-Gobain is successful in its hostile takeover attempt, currently under review in Swiss courts. The company’s management has the support of such shareholders as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust in its bid to block its French rival from acquiring the controlling interest held by Sika’s founders, the Burkard-Schenker family. “The plans I have seen from Saint-Gobain are not good for Sika,” Jenisch told staff assembled at a company event this week. “They will destroy our growth model and I will not be available for such plans.”