Four years after division of Osram, Siemens is separating itself from its remaining participation in manufacturers. Over night, well 18 million Osram shares are to be sold to large investors, as Munich industrial group said on Wednesday evening. “That’s right time for that. Osram now stands on its own feet, “said a Siemens spokesman. On Xetra closing price of Wednesday, package has a value of more than 1.2 billion euros. Siemens 2013 had booked majority of its Osram shares into custody account of its own shareholders and brought Osram to stock exchange.
Lastly, Siemens still held about 17.5 percent of Osram. The Chinese semiconductor company San ‘ at Optoelectronics had an interest in share package, but was met with resistance from Osram’s employees ‘ representatives. According to group, investment banks Deutsche Bank and Citi, commissioned by sale of package, are striving for a price of up to three percent below closing price. In late trading, price losses remained at 1.5 percent. Some Osram papers must be retained by Siemens in order to be able to operate an option bond that expires 2019.
Osram chief Olaf Berlien and Siemens-handlebar Joe Kaeser had divided 2016 over strategy. At annual general meeting, major shareholder Berlien refused discharge after announcing Osram to focus on LED chips and put lamp shop on sale. Siemens considered this to be too risky. Osram thanked outgoing major shareholder “for accompaniment and role as anchor shareholder in period since IPO and during our transformation to a high-tech company”. Since IPO four years ago, price of Osram share has almost tripled.
