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Siemens to list "Healthineers" unit in Frankfurt

Xinhua,December 01, 2017 Adjust font size:

BERLIN, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Supervisory Board of Siemens has confirmed on Wednesday night that the company will list its "Healthineers" medical technology unit in Frankfurt during the first half of 2018.

The Initial Public Offering (IPO), that could become the largest ever in Germany, "is the next logical step for Siemens Healthineers and the foundation for us to build on our strong position as the leading supplier of medical technology," a statement by Siemens Director Michael Sen read.

Siemens' medical technology unit achieved revenue of 14.2 billion euros in the past fiscal year and was the second most profitable division within the entire corporate group.

Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have been hired to coordinate the listing. Analysts believe that the fast-growing unit could fetch more than 30 billion euros (35.5 billion U.S. dollars) on the DAX stock exchange.

Siemens has been mulling a spinning out Healthineers as an independent firm for a while, but had not decided yet whether the IPO would occur in New York and Frankfurt.

"Frankfurt is one of the world's largest centers for securities trading and its importance will only increase due to Brexit," Sen said on Wednesday night. The Siemens director added that the city was attractive to "investors from across the world" as a "highly liquid trading partner.

The metalworkers' union IG Metall welcomed the decision to choose Germany over the U.S.

"The risks of an IPO in the U.S, outweighs its advantages," Juergen Wechsler, IG Metall District leader, said.

Wechsler noted that the international success of the Healthineers unit owed much to its location in Bavaria and the important role workers representatives played on its management board under German law. It would be foolish to put this circumstance at risk "for a few dollars more", he argued.

The relationship between Siemens' management and its employees has been tense since the Munich-based firm recently announced that it would cut 6,900 jobs, mostly in its struggling power plant construction unit. IG Metall was outraged at news that Siemens plants in Goerlitz and Leipzig will consequently be closed despite guarantee to the contrary offered by the firm in 2010. Enditem

 

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