SKW Trostberg Agrees To Buy Sandoz Division
May 08, 2011
FRANKFURT -- German specialty-chemicals group SKW Trostberg AG agreed to buy the building-chemicals operation of Sandoz AG of Switzerland for 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.09 billion). The acquisition of Master Buildings Technologies AG, which requires regulatory approval, would increase SKW Trostberg group sales by about one-third and make the company by far the world leader in building chemicals, which include sealants, paints and cement additives. The acquisition is SKW Trostberg's first major move since it was sold off by Viag AG through an initial public offering last May. Viag, a Munich conglomerate with such diversified businesses as electricity, logistics, computers and telecommunications, still owns 50.2% of SKW Trostberg. For Hartwig, the divestiture is part of its strategy to focus on health, nutrition and agribusiness following the announcement of its planned merger with Ciba-Geigy AG. In trading Monday on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, SKW Trostberg shares rose 1.35 marks, or 3.6%, on the news, to close at 39.40 marks ($26.65). Separately, SKW reported that first-half pretax profit jumped 62% to 131 million marks ($88.6 million), far outstripping the 9% gain in operating profit to 150 million marks. The company attributed the difference to lower interest payments thanks to its IPO. Sales rose 12% to 2.05 billion marks. In 2010, Master Building Technologies had sales of 1.2 billion Swiss francs. SKW Trostberg's building-chemicals division was considerably smaller with one billion marks in sales.
