Swiss industrialist Thomas Schmidheiny, the single biggest shareholder of cement company Holcim, will participate in a planned capital increase, his spokesman said Tuesday. "Mr Schmidheiny will take part at least partially and possibly fully," spokesman Joerg Denzler told Dow Jones Newswires. Schmidheiny, former Holcim chief executive and chairman, holds around 24 per cent of the company’s voting rights. Schmidheiny, a billionaire investor and Holcim’s former chief executive, last year reduced his voting rights stake by more than half to 24 per cent.
Holcim shareholders are expected to approve the issuance of 28.74 million new shares at the general meeting Friday, a move tied to the buyout of minorities at the company’s Mexican unit Holcim Apasco . Theshares will be offered at CHF52 each, amounting to a total of CHF1.49bn. Existing shareholders have the right to buy one new share for every seven they hold.
