04/15/2015

At the general meeting of Sika yesterday, 97%of shareholders not linked to the Burkard Family voted in favor of Ethos' resolution to remove the opting out. These shareholders also overwhelmingly supported the chairman and the independent members of the board. The Burkard Family saw itself completely isolated in its attempt to sell its holding company to the competitor Saint Gobain.

At the general meeting, the CEO of the Ethos Foundation made the following two speeches, which were greeted with big applause by the 700 shareholders present.

The chairman of the board, Dr. P Hälg, announced at the beginning of the meeting that the board had decided to limit the voting rights of the registered shares held by the Burkard Family via the Schenker Winkler Holding (SWH) to 5%. This limit only applied to votes directly related to the sale of SWH to Saint Gobain. This limitation allowed safeguarding Sika's stability by avoiding a takeover of the board by SWH, which would have sealed the fate of Sika by transferring into the control of its competitor Saint Gobain.

Ethos regrets that this limit was not also applied to the vote on its resolution for removal of the opting out clause. SWH was therefore able to automatically cause the rejection of the resolution by using its 52% voting rights. Nonetheless, the resolution garnered a remarkable 97% of yes votes amongst shareholders not tied to the Burkards. This clearly shows that practically all public shareholders, holding 84% of the share capital, are against the opting out clause.

At the end of the meeting, SWH was able to impose that an extraordinary general meeting is held on 24 July 2015 in order to dismiss three independent board members, among whom the president. Ethos hereby already states its opposition to removing these members. The Foundation maintains full trust in the six members of the board not linked to SWH and in the executive management of Sika, as they have demonstrated their loyalty and commitment in preserving the interests of shareholders owning 84% of the share capital as well as the interests of the employees and other stakeholders.

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