FRANKFURT--Germany's Siemens AG (SIE.XE) has no plans to float
its health-care unit next year and instead wants to grow the
business through acquisitions, Chief Executive Joe Kaeser tells
German magazine Wirtschaftswoche in an interview published
Saturday.
Asked whether he plans to list the unit on the stock market in
2015, Mr. Kaeser said "no."
He added that he wants to prepare the unit for a shift to
molecular biology, molecular diagnostics and biotechnology. "We
want to provide the health-care unit with more flexibility,
potentially also by acquisitions," he said.
The industrial and engineering company is set for growth again
in 2016 but will see an operating consolidation next year, Mr.
Kaeser said, asking investors and analysts to be patient.
"I know some analysts think we're too slow...Siemens isn't being
prepared for the next quarters or year, however, but rather for the
next generation," he said.
Over the past year, Mr. Kaeser has been working on shedding
noncore businesses and streamlining divisions as part of a
cost-cutting program and broader restructuring of the
trains-to-medical-equipment giant. In October, he separated the
health-care business operationally from the rest of Siemens,
creating what he called "a company within a company."
Analysts said the move could be the first step toward divesting
the rest of the health-care business.
Write to Frankfurt bureau at djnews.frankfurt@dowjones.com
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