Switzerland’s Sika would be interested in buying
some parts of BASF’s construction chemicals business but has ruled out bidding
for the whole business, Chief Executive Paul Schuler told Reuters on Friday.
The Swiss chemicals maker is still awaiting a sales
pack from bank Goldman Sachs which has been appointed by BASF to oversee the
sale of the business which could carry a price tag of up to 3 billion euros
($3.4 billion).
Schuler said Sika would be interested in parts of
BASF’s business, for example its sealants, flooring and mortar units. But
competition concerns means Sika would not launch a bid for the whole business,
he said.
Funding a deal would not be a problem for Sika,
which is mainly concerned about an overlap between the two companies business
in concrete admixtures, used to waterproof or strengthen building projects.
In some markets a combination of Sika and BASF’s
concrete admixtures businesses would have a market share of up to 80%, meaning
a tie-up could fall foul of market regulators.
Sika would instead wait on when and how BASF
decided to dispose of the business, Schuler said.
One possibility could be Sika teaming up with other
industry players, who would divide the business after buying it.
Schuler declined to say how much Sika would offer
for the parts of BASF his company was interested in. “How much would I pay? I
don’t know, the cheaper the better,” he said.
Sika will press ahead with integrating Parex, the
French mortar company it agreed to buy for $2.6 billion in January.
Sika, which makes products used for strengthening
and waterproofing concrete walls and flooring, reported a 5.9% increase in its
full-year net profit to 687.1 million Swiss francs ($686.55 million), beating
analyst forecasts for a 685 million francs profit in an Infront Data poll.
The results sent the company’s shares up 4.5% by midday on the Zurich stock exchange. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sika-ceo-basf/sika-interested-in-parts-of-basfs-construction-chemicals-business-idUSKCN1QB1CP
