By Adria Calatayud
SIG Group shares jumped after activist investor Cevian Capital disclosed a 3% stake in the Swiss maker of food-packaging products.
Shares in SIG were up 4.7% at 10.93 Swiss francs in European afternoon trading, after rising as much as 7.8% earlier Tuesday. Since the start of the year, though, the stock has lost more than one third of its value to about 4.2 billion francs ($5.30 billion).
"Cevian sees significant long-term value potential in SIG," a spokeswoman said. SIG declined to comment.
SIG is in the midst of a leadership transition after a challenging year that saw it issue a profit warning, put dividend payments on pause and unveil a strategic overhaul.
The company appointed Mikko Keto, head of mining-equipment maker FLSmidth, as its next chief executive in November and said he was due to join next year. SIG's board replaced his predecessor Samuel Sigrist in August, with finance chief Ann-Kristin Erkens stepping up to the top role in the interim.
In September, SIG said it would move to streamline its portfolio to focus on more profitable, faster-growing aseptic-packaging businesses after a strategic review of its operations. It blamed challenging market conditions for a cut to its outlook for the year, and suspended 2025 dividends to reduce debt. In October, the company said it expected subdued market conditions to continue next year.
Sweden's Cevian specializes in buying minority stakes in European public companies that it sees as overlooked, misunderstood or out-of-favor with investors. The investor says it follows a hands-on approach to help make its portfolio companies more valuable.
Cevian built a significant stake in Dutch paints maker AkzoNobel this year and also has a position in Swiss bank UBS Group, among other recent investments.
Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 23, 2025 10:14 ET (15:14 GMT)
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