Ad-hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 of the Listing Rules
In light of the Energy Strategy 2050 and the building refurbishments that will be implemented as part of it, it seems to make ever more sense to provide services across the sectors of electrical engineering, building technology and building envelope construction from a single provider. As such, the Burkhalter Group is evaluating a merger with the Poenina Group and is expected to announce the outcome and how it intends to proceed on 31 March 2022 during its financial results media conference.
The federal Energy Strategy 2050 anticipates that by 2050, the Swiss building stock's energy demand will practically be halved. This goal can be achieved, among other things, by using modern, interdisciplinary building technology focussing on heating, optimising energy efficiency of existing buildings and implementing cutting-edge building automation. There is therefore growing demand for complete, integrated solutions in this sector.
The Board of Directors of Burkhalter Holding Ltd, with Marco Syfrig and Willy Hüppi withdrawing (both are also on the Board of Directors of Poenina), convened a meeting yesterday on 18 January 2022 and decided to enter into merger negotiations with poenina holding ltd. A merger of Burkhalter Holding Ltd and poenina holding ltd would produce a strong, local provider who would be able to design and install future-facing, interdisciplinary building technologies. This will make a significant contribution to achieving the energy targets for the Swiss building stock. This would allow the Burkhalter Group to cement its position as a leading provider of electrical engineering services for buildings while also expanding into the building technology sector. The existing structures at the companies, which are already organised along similar lines, would be expected to remain in place. There are no plans for any job losses.
This potential merger would create a building technology group with almost 80 companies across over 140 locations in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. Based on the financial figures from 2020, the building technology group would have a total operating income in the region of CHF 800 million and approximately 4,600 full-time employees (FTEs).
As part of the requirement to complete all necessary checks in good time, Burkhalter Holding Ltd is expected to announce the outcome of the evaluation of the potential merger with poenina holding ltd on 31 March 2022 during its financial results media conference. The Zurich Cantonal Bank will be supporting Burkhalter Holding Ltd in this process as transaction advisor. If the evaluation and negotiations lead to a positive result, the shareholders will probably vote on the merger at the Shareholders' Meeting on 31 May 2022.
FINANCIAL RESULTS MEDIA CONFERENCE
New: expected on Thursday, 31 March 2022 from 8:30 - 10:00 a.m. instead of on 11 April 2022, as originally announced. Invitations to follow |
Download media release as PDF here
About Burkhalter Holding Ltd
The Burkhalter Group is a leading provider of electrical engineering services to the construction sector and, with almost 50 Group companies, is represented at over 100 locations in Switzerland. As at 31 December 2020, it achieved an operating result (EBIT) of CHF 18.7 million, a Group profit of CHF 14.6 million and sales of CHF 497.6 million and employed 3170 employees (FTE, of whom 696 apprentices). The Group is headquartered in Zurich. Burkhalter Holding Ltd is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol BRKN, security number 21225580, ISIN CH0212255803).
Disclaimer
This media release contains forward-looking statements such as projections, forecasts and estimates. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could mean that actual results, performance or events differ significantly from those anticipated in this media release. Readers should therefore not take these forward-looking statements as a given. The forward-looking statements in this media release are based on Burkhalter Holding Ltd's current opinions and assumptions. Burkhalter Holding Ltd assumes no obligation to update or supplement this media release.
This media release is for informational purposes. It does not constitute an endorsement or offer of any kind nor is it an encouragement or advertisement to purchase shares in Burkhalter Holding Ltd and/or poenina holding ltd in any jurisdiction. It is not classed as a prospectus in the sense of Art. 35 et seq of the Federal Act on Financial Services (FinSA).
