"PubliGroupe's Publicité Suisse idea was not realistic".
Jean-Pierre Bonny, Chairman of the Board of Affichage, on Decaux and PubliGroupe
Jean-Pierre Bonny, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Affichage, to Decaux and PubliGroupePer July 1, 2000, Jean-Pierre Bonny vacates the seat of Chairman of the Board of Directors at Affichage-Holding. But the vacant seat on the Board of Directors is filled internally. Decaux, Affichage's largest single shareholder, goes away empty-handed. In an interview with WerbeWoche, Bonny explains why the appointment to the board of directors should remain a Swiss matter.Decaux has a 30 percent stake in Affichage, Clear Channel eight percent. Will the vacant seat on the board go to one of the two major shareholders?
Jean-Pierre Bonny: No, we nominated the Bernese advocate Markus Scheidegger. He contributes to the rejuvenation of our BoD, is a lawyer, and at the same time has professional experience in outdoor advertising.
Why doesn't Decaux get a BoD seat?
Bonny: As you know, the purchase of the PubliGroupe package by Decaux triggered an investigation by the Competition Commission (Comco). Your question can therefore only be answered once the Weko's report is available. There are competition law aspects involved.
When do you expect the Weko decision?
Bonny: You have to ask the Weko that question.
Why does the Affichage Board of Directors pay such close attention to independence in the age of globalization?
Bonny: Because of our clientele. In addition to customers for posters, they also include countless cities and municipalities that value the fact that they can work with a Swiss partner they have known for years and decades. The fact that the BoD wants to preserve the independence of the company is also evident from the fact that the existing transferability clause can only be changed with an 80 percent majority of votes.
What criteria are used at Affichage to nominate people, Markus Scheidegger for example, for the BoD?
Bonny: This question cannot be answered in general terms. For us, what counts first and foremost is the quality of the personality. Advocate Markus Scheidegger is a top man and represents Polymedia Holding, our partner in certain subsidiaries (see box). Last year, for example, the former member of the Zurich government, Eric Honegger, was elected, also a top man, who guarantees us various connections, for example to the print media and air traffic.
Regarding foreign business: PubliGroupe sold its 25 percent stake in Affichage to Decaux because it was disappointed: According to PubliGroupe, Affichage entered foreign business too late and too hesitantly. PubliGroupe had already suggested this a good ten years ago...
Bonny: I don't know anything about that, I wasn't chairman of the board at the time. However, in 1997, I offered PubliGroupe the opportunity to work with us abroad, and they refused. The fact that we are number 1 or number 2 in outdoor advertising in many countries in Central Europe shows that we are not too late. And PubliGroupe's idea that the number 1 in Swiss print advertising and the number 1 in Swiss outdoor advertising should merge to form Publicité Suisse was not realistic. It did not come about because of antitrust considerations and would never have been accepted by the Competition Commission.
After just five years, your business in Eastern Europe already accounts for nine percent of Group sales and around three percent of Group profit. Surely that shows that there is great potential abroad and that you should have tried expanding in Western Europe exactly ten or 15 years ago.
Bonny: No, Western Europe was already occupied and extremely expensive in terms of outdoor advertising. As a serious company, we didn't want to pay fantasy prices. But when I became Chairman of the Board in 1995, foreign business was my first priority. In 1996, we started with it in Eastern Europe because there was no need to pay exorbitant prices there and there was a significant pent-up demand for outdoor advertising. In the meantime, however, the competitive situation there has also intensified.
But shouldn't the move abroad, to Western Europe, have been made earlier? According to PubliGroupe, the Western European outdoor advertising plots are now divided among the big players, whereas ten or 15 years ago it would still have been possible to enter the market.
Bonny: No, no, we first had to consolidate our company in Switzerland. If APG is strong today, it is because it has strictly adhered to the principle of concentration of forces.
How many seats on the BoD did you offer PubliGroupe, which was Affichage's largest shareholder until a year ago? One, two?
Bonny: That's not up for discussion here, and it doesn't play any role now, since the cooperation sought by PubliGroupe, as I said, was not possible for reasons of competition law.
Interview: Markus Knöpfli
This is Polymedia Polymedia-Holding in Bern, with a share capital of one million Swiss francs, manages holdings of the Scheidegger family (Bern) in Interplakat as well as in Affichage-Holding and its subsidiaries Impacta, Ecofer and P&W. It is also the 100 percent owner of Advisa-Treuhand. According to Walter Scheidegger, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Polymedia, the holding company exists for inheritance reasons: His sons, one of whom is Markus Scheidegger, will one day be able to inherit shares in the holding company, but not in the individual holdings, so that the investment package "does not come apart.
Jean-Pierre Bonny: No, we nominated the Bernese advocate Markus Scheidegger. He contributes to the rejuvenation of our BoD, is a lawyer, and at the same time has professional experience in outdoor advertising.
Why doesn't Decaux get a BoD seat?
Bonny: As you know, the purchase of the PubliGroupe package by Decaux triggered an investigation by the Competition Commission (Comco). Your question can therefore only be answered once the Weko's report is available. There are competition law aspects involved.
When do you expect the Weko decision?
Bonny: You have to ask the Weko that question.
Why does the Affichage Board of Directors pay such close attention to independence in the age of globalization?
Bonny: Because of our clientele. In addition to customers for posters, they also include countless cities and municipalities that value the fact that they can work with a Swiss partner they have known for years and decades. The fact that the BoD wants to preserve the independence of the company is also evident from the fact that the existing transferability clause can only be changed with an 80 percent majority of votes.
What criteria are used at Affichage to nominate people, Markus Scheidegger for example, for the BoD?
Bonny: This question cannot be answered in general terms. For us, what counts first and foremost is the quality of the personality. Advocate Markus Scheidegger is a top man and represents Polymedia Holding, our partner in certain subsidiaries (see box). Last year, for example, the former member of the Zurich government, Eric Honegger, was elected, also a top man, who guarantees us various connections, for example to the print media and air traffic.
Regarding foreign business: PubliGroupe sold its 25 percent stake in Affichage to Decaux because it was disappointed: According to PubliGroupe, Affichage entered foreign business too late and too hesitantly. PubliGroupe had already suggested this a good ten years ago...
Bonny: I don't know anything about that, I wasn't chairman of the board at the time. However, in 1997, I offered PubliGroupe the opportunity to work with us abroad, and they refused. The fact that we are number 1 or number 2 in outdoor advertising in many countries in Central Europe shows that we are not too late. And PubliGroupe's idea that the number 1 in Swiss print advertising and the number 1 in Swiss outdoor advertising should merge to form Publicité Suisse was not realistic. It did not come about because of antitrust considerations and would never have been accepted by the Competition Commission.
After just five years, your business in Eastern Europe already accounts for nine percent of Group sales and around three percent of Group profit. Surely that shows that there is great potential abroad and that you should have tried expanding in Western Europe exactly ten or 15 years ago.
Bonny: No, Western Europe was already occupied and extremely expensive in terms of outdoor advertising. As a serious company, we didn't want to pay fantasy prices. But when I became Chairman of the Board in 1995, foreign business was my first priority. In 1996, we started with it in Eastern Europe because there was no need to pay exorbitant prices there and there was a significant pent-up demand for outdoor advertising. In the meantime, however, the competitive situation there has also intensified.
But shouldn't the move abroad, to Western Europe, have been made earlier? According to PubliGroupe, the Western European outdoor advertising plots are now divided among the big players, whereas ten or 15 years ago it would still have been possible to enter the market.
Bonny: No, no, we first had to consolidate our company in Switzerland. If APG is strong today, it is because it has strictly adhered to the principle of concentration of forces.
How many seats on the BoD did you offer PubliGroupe, which was Affichage's largest shareholder until a year ago? One, two?
Bonny: That's not up for discussion here, and it doesn't play any role now, since the cooperation sought by PubliGroupe, as I said, was not possible for reasons of competition law.
Interview: Markus Knöpfli
This is Polymedia Polymedia-Holding in Bern, with a share capital of one million Swiss francs, manages holdings of the Scheidegger family (Bern) in Interplakat as well as in Affichage-Holding and its subsidiaries Impacta, Ecofer and P&W. It is also the 100 percent owner of Advisa-Treuhand. According to Walter Scheidegger, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Polymedia, the holding company exists for inheritance reasons: His sons, one of whom is Markus Scheidegger, will one day be able to inherit shares in the holding company, but not in the individual holdings, so that the investment package "does not come apart.
