Highly coveted affichage

Outdoor advertising French and Belgians now own 55 percent of Affichage shares The Swiss outdoor advertising company Affichage is now majority-owned by foreigners, at least in terms of shares. The French poster advertising company JCDecaux has been registered as the largest single shareholder since 1999 with a 30 percent stake, and since April 23, the Belgian holding company Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuille has also held 25.3 percent. Last week, the company acquired various smaller Affichage share packages, including one from the US company Arnold and S. Bleichroeder Advisers. As Affichage has a transfer restriction clause in its articles of association that limits voting rights to 5 percent regardless of the percentage of shares held, there will be no changes to the Board of Directors for the time being. "We have no vacancies," says Affichage CEO Christian Kauter. In addition, the new Belgian shareholder has not yet applied for voting rights. If it does, it could propose the election of one or two representatives at the Annual General Meeting in the medium term, said Kauter.
But even then, the majority of the nine-member Board of Directors would remain Swiss. Today, only JCDecaux has two French representatives, CEO Jean-François Decaux and CFO Gérard Dégonse. "Affichage Holding AG is and will remain an independent Swiss company," said an Affichage press release. The company will also continue to pursue its strategy abroad, particularly in south-eastern Europe, "in cooperation with JCDecaux". JCDecaux, for its part, confirmed its commitment "as a strategic industry partner" of Affichage in a communiqué.   
 
Markus Knöpfli