* Chairman Hariolf Kottmann to follow SABIC pressure
* Guenter Von Au to become new contract chairman
* Standard share includes 0.70 Sfr / share (Add to background)
ZURICH, Feb. 1 (Reuters) – Clariant Chairman Hariolf Kottmann, who announced that Saudi Arabia’s SABIC became a major shareholder in the chemical maker three years ago, has become the culmination of Monday’s deal to try to maintain relations between the two sides.
The Swiss firm said Kottmann would not stand for re-election in April.
The 65-year-old has been leading Clariant for more than a decade, but Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has become increasingly unwelcome with him, especially after a planned joint venture collapsed in 2019.
In a post – Christmas coup attempt, SABIC, which has a 31.5% stake in Clariant, urged ouster Kottmann to propose a deadline for board members. They also want analysts to 2 share the Swiss franc share fear of draining the company’s coffers of 670 million francs ($ 749 million).
To prevent the crisis, the Clariant board recommends director Guenter von Au as chairman, and they have agreed with SABIC a standard share with a value of just 0.70 francs per share.
“We welcome the lower spread, as liquidity is important during a coronavirus crisis,” said Sibylle Bischofberger at Vontobel Bank.
Kottmann, through Clariant, declined to be interviewed.
Clariant shares fell 0.5%.
RISE AND FALL
Kottmann, a German chemist, arrived in 2008 as CEO when Clariant was going through a rough stretch. It sold businesses on the lower margins after building up with a 2011 $ 2 billion acquisition of Sued-Chemie from Germany.
In 2017, however, his infamous mega-deal went on with Huntsman Corp. destroyed U.S.-based U.S. venture investors, forcing SABIC, a long-time Clariant customer, to find himself a white knight to buy a large portion of Americans.
Since then, however, his relationship with the Saudi-controlled chemical company Aramco has emerged: A longtime SABIC manager who became CEO of Clariant abruptly quit in 2019, just before the merger -sort off campaign.
Since then, Clariant – since December under new CEO Conrad Keijzer – has been loading units to focus on the fastest growing businesses, including getting rid of their pigment unit, and probably before July.
SABIC had no immediate comment.
$ 1 = 0.8915 Swiss francs Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz and John Miller. Edited by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Mark Potter