Siemens’ chief financial officer, Joe Kaeser, has said the company will continue to prioritise an initial public offering (IPO) for its Siemens VDO components division. There has been intense speculation that Siemens may accept a takeover offer from a competitor, if the price is high enough.
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According to dpa-AFX, Manfred Wennemer, CEO of Continental, is still interested in acquiring Siemens VDO.
Speaking at the Automotive News Europe conference in Prague this week, he said it all comes down to price. “It is not a question of negotiating, it is all about the value of the company.”
Continental is expected to offer more than than EUR10bn ($US13.4bn) for the division. This is more than Siemens could raise from an IPO and might be too good an offer for Siemens to ignore. Siemens has also reportedly received expressions of interest from other potential buyers, including TRW and Dutch portable satellite navigator specialist TomTom. Private equity firm KKR is also believed to be considering making an offer as part of a consortium that also includes Permira.
Reuters reported last week that the final decision would be made by a handful of people and approved by the supervisory board at the end of July. The news agency noted that Siemens gets a new CEO from 1 July when Peter Loescher is due to take over from Klaus Kleinfeld.
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