Siemens wants to sell shares in its subsidiary Siemens Healthineers worth around 15 billion euros to shareholders. Specifically, it’s about 30 percent of the medical technology company, as the group reports. The aim of the campaign is that the Munich-based company no longer has to fully consolidate the business of the Erlangen subsidiary – in addition, Siemens is continuing the course it has been following for years to concentrate on its core business. Siemens currently still holds a good two-thirds.
The shares are to be transferred to the current Siemens shareholders, preferably in the form of a direct spin-off. In the long term, Siemens only wants to hold a significant minority stake in Healthineers. “Today marks the beginning of the next growth phase for Siemens,” says CEO Roland Busch. By handing over majority control to Healthineers, Siemens is concentrating on a “highly synergistic” portfolio.
CFO Ralf P. Thomas also emphasized that the deconsolidation would expand the scope for Siemens. The transaction is still subject to approval by the general meetings of both companies. The exact design will be developed in the coming months. Details are expected to be announced at the beginning of the second calendar quarter of 2026.
Sustainable conditions for separation
The separation of the two companies is ultimately a logical step – even if it is not easy, according to IG Metall and the works council. It was important for the employees to achieve sustainable conditions for the separation. There are commitments from the company: among other things, unchanged collective bargaining, location and employment security and the company headquarters remaining in Germany.
“We support the concept of the integrated One Tech Company because from today’s perspective it offers the best long-term prospects for Siemens,” says the second chairman of IG Metall, Jürgen Kerner. If you think about this further, Healthineers technologically “doesn’t really fit in with the core elements of digital industries, smart infrastructure and mobility in the long term and, on top of that, has better chances on its own. Clinging to the current structure against your better judgment is no longer an option – instead, it’s important to design the change in the best possible way.”
Currently 67 percent
Siemens listed its medical technology division under the name Healthineers in March 2018, but retained a comfortable majority. Siemens currently still holds around 67 percent of Healthineers shares and must therefore fully consolidate the subsidiary. At prices of around 45 euros per Healthineers share, as recently paid, the entire Siemens share would be worth around 34 billion euros.
Healthineers is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of medical technology. The company, now a DAX group itself, produces, among other things, medical imaging devices such as magnetic resonance and computer tomographs and supplies hospitals with complete solutions.
The laboratory diagnostics division – which includes technical options for blood tests – was initially seen as a source of hope, but ultimately more as a sales candidate. In 2021, Healthineers acquired the highly profitable US radiation therapy specialist Varian.
In the past financial year, Healthineers made a profit of almost 2.2 billion euros and thus contributed quite a bit to the parent’s annual results. Overall, the company is considered profitable, even if the growth forecasts did not always meet all of investors’ hopes. According to its own information, the company, headquartered at the old Siemens site in Erlangen, employs more than 70,000 people worldwide.
Capital tied up
There had been speculation at Siemens for a long time about reducing the Healthineers share. The subsidiary’s profits have recently helped to cushion weaknesses elsewhere in the group, but Healthineers does not bring the group any synergies or tie up capital. Investors have therefore been calling for a complete separation for some time. In the current year, Siemens has already sold shares in order to partially finance the takeovers with the proceeds. Siemens has repeatedly spun off parts in the past – be it the semiconductor division, which today runs under the name Infineon, be it Osram or the energy technology division Siemens Energy, which was listed on the stock exchange in 2020. However, it did not occur that the group held such a large stake as in Healthineers for more than seven years.
