Siemens chief executive Heinrich von Pierer has dismissed rumors that the company plans to buy its US partner 3Com Corp (CI No 3,647). We don’t want to buy 3Com, rather we want to continue our cooperation with them, he said. However Siemens has not totally abandoned the take-over trail and von Pierer acknowledged more acquisitions were possible in the future.
At a press conference in Munich yesterday, Siemens directors said they expect that the flotation of the Infineon Technologies AG semiconductor operation will be the most valuable in Germany after Deutsche Telekom – even though the operation is still making a loss. Revealing mid-term figures for individual operations for the first time, semiconductors made a modest $56m loss in the first six months of the current year compared with a $464.7m loss in the last financial year. Semiconductor sales in the first half were $2bn compared with $3.6bn for the whole of last year.
A final decision on the timetable for flotation will be made in July, but the company says it will be between the fourth this year and the first quarter next. Siemens CFO Heinz-Joachim Neuburger said that less than half of InfineonÆs shares will be offered for sale initially. This because it will take time for existing licensing and patent exchange agreements to be adjusted to the new situation. Von Pierer said he expects total group sales for the current fiscal year to rise 10% to 17% and for net profits to rise faster than sales.
