The delisting and intensification of trading on the Swiss stock exchange at the end of 2022 reflect the shift in volumes over the years from Euronext Paris, according to a statement Monday. Simplification will reduce administrative burden and costs.
Holcim is listed on Euronext Paris in 2015 as part of a merger with the French company Lafarge.
At that time, everything was still double: the company’s name is “LafargeHolcim”, the management and equal representation on the board of directors in Zurich and Paris. And these repetitions soon caused friction.
The merger of large companies in 2014 is still declared as a “merger of equals”. But that image was soon cracked by Lafarge’s weaker market position, and by the time the merger was completed in summer 2015, Holcim shareholders were already a little overweight.
Some upheavals also had to be overcome at the management level. The sudden departure of the merger chairman, Wolfgang Reitzle, became the subject of conversation. In the early years, Lafarge executive Eric Olsen was rather unsuccessful as CEO, and discussions of what has happened in Syria, a civil war country, have accompanied the company since the pre-unification era.
Only with Beat Hess as the head of the Board of Directors and then Jan Jenisch as CEO did a clear line emerge in the direction of the group. The way was paved for major cement liquidations, debt reduction, acquisitions and strengthening of the building materials division in Asia.
And with its rebranding to “Holcim” in the spring of 2021, another tie was cut with its former French rival. The group’s locations in Paris and Zurich closed three years ago and moved to the more tax-efficient Zug.
There is no trace of the original “equality” in Holcim’s Board of Directors. Today, none of the seven Lafarge representatives elected at that time are still on the board. The latest Vice President Oscar Fanjul resigned – at the same time the company’s name was changed.
(SDA)