FRANKFURT: Siemens unveiled a new management and corporate structure on Monday and said it would float lighting unit Osram, in the most radical revamp since 2007 for the company.
Siemens said that in addition to its existing industry, energy and healthcare divisions, it would create a fourth sector: infrastructure and cities.
The new sector will combine selected businesses from its industry and energy sectors to benefit in the dynamic growth of cities and infrastructure investments, the firm said.
"We are orienting Siemens toward technology leadership in a broad spectrum of energy-efficient solutions for cities and industries. With this move, we intend to top the ?100 billion (?1 = RM4.27) mark in business volume in the next few years," Siemens chief executive Peter Loescher, an Austrian and the first CEO hired from outside the company, said in a statement.
Loescher promised to slim down the lumbering giant, which makes products varying from high-speed trains to light bulbs, and has taken a more active spin-off strategy, selling IT unit SIS and a minority stake in tank maker Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.
Siemens aims to float Osram in the fall but would remain an anchor investor, the firm said on Monday.
Osram is its only business not bearing the Siemens brand, and is estimated by analysts to be worth between ?5 billion and ?7 billion.
It is the world's No. 2 lighting firm after Philips and ahead of General Electric Co.
Analysts had long flagged the need for costly investments in the Osram unit even before the official announcement of a listing.
Analyst Andreas Willi of JP Morgan said Osram needed to invest to restructure over the next four years as most types of incandescent and some other light bulbs are phased out in Europe and elsewhere, requiring factory shutdowns.
"The potential listing is the most radical portfolio change that Loescher will be undertaking,"
Deutsche Bank analyst Peter Reilly said in response to media reports that Siemens will seek to float Osram.
Future potential disposals could include stakes in turbine engine maker Voith Hydro and in networks joint venture SEN and in Nokia Siemens Networks. In connection with the organisational changes announced on Monday, Siemens appointed three new members to the company's managing board.
Roland Busch, currently head of Corporate Strategies, will be chief executive of the newly created Infrastructure & Cities Sector.
Klaus Helmrich, currently CEO of the Drive Technologies Division, will hold the managing board portfolio for Technology. Michael Suess, currently CEO of the Fossil Power Generation Division, will be CEO of the Energy Sector.
All three will assume their managing board positions on April 1, 2011, Siemens said in a statement.
Wolfgang Dehen, currently CEO of the Energy Sector, will leave the managing board of Siemens AG to become CEO of the executive board of Osram, Siemens said. - Reuters
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