CIBA-GEIGY SEEKS FOREIGN INVESTORS

Swiss drugs major Ciba-Geigy will make strenuous efforts to gain more foreign investors as shareholders, according to supervisory council president, Alex Krauer.

Speaking to Swiss media in Basel on issues of mainly domestic concern, Mr Krauer noted that the group's 1991 results had been presented in London in March (Marketletter March 30) in order to widen the shareholder base. He added that Ciba-Geigy had remained relatively unknown, especially to Anglo-Saxon investors.

Mr Krauer explained that there was no upper limit for the proportion of foreign investment in the company. Competition in international capital markets had intensified, and the company had reached its limits on the creation of new capital in Switzerland. Since Ciba-Geigy opened its share capital to foreigners, their share in the company has increased to some 25%, but a proportion of over 50% is quite possible, according to Mr Krauer.