We exclude a case like that at Sika

Bossard, the screw manufacturer and specialist in connection technology, yesterday announced the best results in its history (see box). The Group's roots go back to 1831, and Bossard is now run by the seventh generation of the founder family, whose interests are represented in Kolin Holding. Thanks to its voting rights, the family holding controls 56 percent of all Bossard votes with its 28 percent capital, a similar situation to that at Sika, where, through the Schenker-Winkler Holding, the Burkard family controls 52 percent of the votes through its 16 percent share of the capital. This recently allowed the family to sell the majority rights in Sika to the French company Saint-Gobain.
 
In an interview, Bossard President Thomas Schmuckli explains why his family still runs the company.
 
The takeover battle at Sika rages on. Is Bossard threatened with the same fate?
 
Thomas Schmuckli: No, because the Bossard family has a clear ownership strategy. We want to pass the company on to the next generation as a listed family company. A sale is not an option for us.
 
The Burkards said something similar in November of last year. But then came the sale.
 
Schmuckli: The situation here is definitely different. Five family members are involved body and soul in the Bossard Group; Two are in the Board of Directors, and three family members work in the management. The family follows a culture in which the company’s interests take priority over individual interests, according to the motto "Business First".
 
And what if someone suddenly doesn’t want to go along with this?
 
Schmuckli: The Kolin Group is financially strong, and can buy out any family members who want to leave. This has already happened, in fact. A family member of the seventh generation left, and sold out without any problems.
 
What happens if there is a lucrative takeover bid, and the family wants to sell its holding?
 
Schmuckli We will not sell. Our statutes do not have an opting-out clause. This means that, in the case of a sale of the voting shares by the family, the buyer would also have to make an offer to all the public shareholders on the same terms. We have already received several bids, and all have been rejected. We have already started planning the change from the seventh to the eighth generation, which will take place after 2025.
 
As a family member, do you automatically get a managerial job at Bossard?
 
Schmuckli: No, as for all employees, it also applies for family members that the requirements for the job must be met – or even exceeded. Anyone who takes on a job here has to have the appropriate skills. Bossard needs strong leaders, and we want to recruit these from among the workforce. With the appointment of David Dean ten years ago, the company is, for the first time in its history, being managed by a person from Bossard Group who is not a member of the family.
 
You yourself came into the family through marriage. Was there ever any friction?
 
Schmuckli: (laughs) It’s said that there are problems in nine out of ten companies when a family in-law becomes involved in the company business. Fortunately, that’s not the case with us. The Bossard company has a long tradition of family in-laws becoming involved in the company.
 
The Sika case has unsettled many investors. Is a better protection of the public shareholders now needed by law?
 
Schmuckli: The incident at Sika has also led to inquiries from our own anxious investors. We have been able to quickly reassure them, however, and have shown them that this cannot happen here. I think a modification of the Stock Corporation Act would be premature. Experience shows that many family firms outperform the market.
 
Note:
Thomas Schmuckli (52) has been on the Board of Directors of Bossard since 2000, and became its chairman in 2007. Born in Lucerne, he is a lawyer by profession, and now works as a professional director.