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Saint-Gobain says Swiss court rules full takeover bid for Sika unneeded

PARIS (Reuters) - A Swiss court confirmed Saint-Gobain did not have to launch a mandatory public takeover bid for all the shares of Swiss chemical firm Sika, the French group said on Tuesday.

Management and most of the Sika board are locked in a court battle with the Burkard-Schenker family, who control the company through a more powerful class of shares than other investors own and favours the transaction.

The building materials group said the ruling upheld "the validity of the opt-out clause in Sika's by-laws" and expressed "no reservations about its application to Saint-Gobain's acquisition of all shares of SWH" (the Burkard-Schenker family holding firm).

The European Commission said in July it had approved Saint-Gobain's acquisition of Sika after SWH, which controls Sika with a 16.1 percent stake and 52.4 percent of voting rights, agreed to sell control of the chemicals company to Saint-Gobain for 2.75 billion Swiss francs ($2.88 billion).

(Reporting by Matthias Blamont; Editing by Leigh Thomas)