SIEMENS is done for now with selling off its peripheral businesses, the technology giant’s finance chief told Reuters in an interview, though he said the company’s future structure would be continually reviewed.
Siemens operates several units bundled together as ‘Portfolio Companies’ since 2019 which employ around 13,585 people and generate approximately 3.2 billion euros (S$4.7 billion) in revenue according to its own 2022 data.
“We have decided together on the board that there will be no more new ‘portfolio companies’,” CFO Ralf Thomas told Reuters this week.
“But it would be naive to believe that the portfolio does not have to be reviewed again and again,” he said, adding that this would be left to the individual divisions.
Last week, Siemens announced it would sell Innomotics, its large motors and drives business, for 3.5 billion euros to KPS Capital Partners.
“We succeeded particularly well with Innomotics,” Thomas said, adding that the workers’ unions were satisfied with the buyer.
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The proceeds from the deal will be used to finance dividends, share buybacks and investments, among other things, he added.
The German industrial group also spun off a handful of companies during former CEO Joe Kaeser’s tenure that were not part of Siemens’ core business and barely made any profit.
Among those were the parcel logistics unit sold to Germany’s Koerber for 1.15 billion euros and transport technology business Yunex sold for almost one billion euros to the Italian Atlantia holding controlled by the Benetton family.
Siemens’ transmission subsidiary Flender was also bought by Carlyle for more than two billion euros.
“Internal processes have been trimmed and the focus has been sharpened on the essentials,” Thomas noted.
Among the remaining portfolio businesses, is a small logistics unit that produces baggage carousels and cargo conveyor systems for airports, which the finance chief described as profitable, but too small for an IPO. REUTERS
