Ina Invest becomes Cham Swiss Properties after merger
The merger agreement with the Cham Group has been signed. Ina Invest's last financial year ends with a double-digit million loss due to a special effect.
Ina Invest announces that the merger talks with Cham Group have led to a positive outcome. The Boards of Directors of the two companies have signed a merger agreement and will submit it to the shareholders for approval at the respective Annual General Meetings. As part of the absorption, Ina Invest will take over Cham Group, with existing Cham shareholders receiving 41.5 shares in Ina Invest per share. The company will then be called Cham Swiss Properties AG. The combined portfolio size amounts to CHF 1.6 billion and the merged company will be one of the ten largest listed real estate companies in Switzerland.
At the Annual General Meeting of Ina Invest Ltd, Philipp Buhofer, Annelies Häcki Buhofer and Felix Thöni will be proposed for election to the Board of Directors of Ina Invest as current members of the Board of Directors of Cham Group. Stefan Mächler is proposed as Chairman of the Board of Directors, with Christoph Caviezel and Hans Ulrich Meister as further members. Thomas Aebischer as CEO and Daniel Grab as CFO will manage the operations of the new company together with the existing Cham Group Executive Board (Lukas Fehr, Roland Regli, William White). It is reported that Marc Pointet, CEO of Ina Invest AG, will support the management team during the transition phase as Chief Integration Officer.
One-off payment to Implemia leads to negative EBIT
At the same time, Ina Invest is also announcing its results for the past financial year. This is characterized by a special effect related to the merger, which resulted in a large loss for the company: the termination of the contract with the main shareholder Implenia includes a one-off payment of CHF 34.7 million. This will reduce Ina Invest's EBIT to CHF -14.2 million. However, EBIT including the valuation result and before special factors amounted to CHF 20.4 million - a significant improvement on the previous year (CHF -8.8 million). Rental income remained constant at CHF 15.4 million despite construction-related vacancies. Project progress generated income from changes in market value of CHF 15.4 million. The bottom line is an overall result of CHF -17.4 million (previous year: CHF -11.3 million). (aw)
