Switzerland: Holcim's chairman Wolfgang Reitzle has said that Holcim is open to giving Russia's Eurocement a seat on the board after its merger with French peer Lafarge goes through, chairman Wolfgang Reitzle said yesterday.
On 29 March 2015 Russian businessman Filaret Galchev, who owns a 10.8% stake in Holcim via Eurocement Holding, rejected the renegotiated merger terms that Holcim had reached with Lafarge in mid-March.
"It would be beneficial to have him in the board as he would bring in lots of expertise from the cement sector," said Reitzle of Galchev. He added that the future chief executive of the combined company would be named within the next two weeks.
Reitzle excluded re-opening the negotiations with Lafarge on the share-exchange ratio or paying a special dividend to Holcim shareholders to win them over to the deal.
Holcim shareholders, some of whom remain sceptical of the cement industry mega-merger, vote on whether or not to ratify the deal at a shareholder meeting on Friday 8 May 2015.