IGTA Journal - Summer 2020

Why Siemens at this point of time has decided for the de-merger? The energy market has experienced in the last years an unprecedented change: Towards renewable energies, decentralised structures and regionally diversified production and distribution processes. This, one cannot ignore, because all business activities start at the demand of the customers. Why can this task not be mastered with the present setup? In the Siemens Group, to the portfolio would not have been given enough possibilities for deployment, because the energy business would always be in competition with other business units, as to capital allocation. With the new setup, the Siemens Energy can respond to the changed market situation in a more agile way and with a technologically successful competitive position. The de-merger is for all stakeholders the right decision. What does it mean for the shareholders ? We enlarge the free rooms for decision. Each one can decide oneself, how to allocate one´ s capital. This could contribute to reduce an eventual conglomerate discount. The analyst research opinions in recent weeks are developing in this direction. Of banks, which participate in the stock exchange listing ? Investment banks have a clear separation between Research and Investment Banking. It is certainly true, that the list of advisors reads like a Who´s Who of the finance industry. But with the size of our project, we need many Investment Banks, which take care of the different market segments. As well it is true: Transparency about the Siemens Energy Business naturally leads to that the research becomes more qualified. Why makes Siemens Group in the Annual Meeting not possible to the shareholders to have live-presence at the Web-Annual Shareholder Meeting ? The Annual Shareholder Meetrings of this season followed closely to the context which the federal government of Germany has set. As an example, the questions have to be filed beforehand. Therefore I see the glass more half full than half empty. Still, because of wise regulations of the legislator, Annual Shareholder Meetings can take place at all. Should the experiences made, lead to a continuation of the format of digital Annual Shareholder Meetings, then this will certainly be an important point of discussion whether one will support the Annual Shareholder Meeting–dialogue with technical possibilities. Which changes do you expect in the set of shareholders of Siemens Energy ? Among the large investors there is a part, which is allowed to invest only in certain indices. These investors are thus forced, to divest the papers over time. Other investors have preferences for industries like for instance industrial automation. The magnitude of reallocations will be significant. It will help to dampen the volatilities by way of that at the beginning we shall give only 55 % in the free float. It would nevertheless be very surprising if IGTA eJournal | Summer 2020 | 18