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Siemens Denies Planning Further Radical Restructuring
MUNICH, Germany (AFP) - Siemens denied that it was preparing a radical restructuring of its businesses on Monday. A report in the Financial Times Deutschland, the new German-language of the prestigious British business daily, had said that Siemens was considering selling its energy, transport, medical technology and Osram light bulb units as part of a further radical restructuring program. The plan was to transform Siemens from a sprawling engineering and technology group into a narrowly focused two-tiered company specializing in information technology and communications and industry, the newspaper said in its first edition. The revamp, coming hot on the heels of the group's global 10-point plan launched last year to focus on its profitable core businesses, would halve Siemens turnover from its present level of 134 billion marks ($68.5 billion) to about 64 billion marks, FT Deutschland said, quoting group finance director Hans-Joachim Neubuerger. However, Siemens issued a statement denying the report. "A further radical restructuring of the company is not on the agenda," the statement said. Neubuerger had not been quoted accurately, Siemens said. Investors did not appear to be very enthusiastic about the prospect of a further streamlining. On the Frankfurt stock exchange, shares in Siemens were lower, showing a loss of $3.43 or 2.14% on the day at $156.60. Earlier, Siemens had unveiled the terms of the planned flotation of its semi-conductors unit, Infineon. The flotation was part of Siemens' original 10-point restructuring program. Shares in Infineon would be priced at $29-35 when they were listed on the Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges from March 13, Siemens said. With a total of 173 million shares being listed, that would bring the total issue volume to $5-6 billion. The issue included a capital increase of 17 million new shares, Siemens said. The subscription period began on Monday, Feb. 21, and would run until March 10. U.S.-based Intel, the biggest manufacturer of computer chips in the world, had agreed to invest $250 million in Infineon, the German group said. The two companies also planned to cooperate in the manufacturer of DRAM memory chips. Infineon is the second group within Siemens to be floated on the stock exchange in six months.
Only recently, EPCOS, the German group's joint venture with Matsushita in Japan, was taken in the DAX index of 30 German blue chip stocks. Infineon was set up in April 1999. In the business year ended September 30, 1999, its sales amounted to $4.24 billion on a workforce of 25,8000
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