Siemens Energy’s shareholders have been out in the cold since its 2020 listing, buffeted by the woes of listed wind turbine subsidiary Siemens Gamesa. Buying out the latter’s minorities might not seem an obvious way to insulate the former. Yet the €4bn offer to purchase the outstanding 33 per cent of shares in Siemens Gamesa could strengthen the investment case for Siemens Energy.
Siemens Energy has good reason to tidy up its structure. Up to now, it has been getting the worst of both worlds. Anyone wanting exposure to the wind sector would invest in Siemens Gamesa directly. But the latter’s repeated profit warnings dominated investors’ perceptions of its majority shareholder. That made Siemens Energy “uninvestable”, according to Bernstein’s Nicholas Green.
Even so, the bid might be viewed as opportunistic by Siemens Gamesa’s long-suffering shareholders. The €18.05 on offer is a 27.7 per cent premium to last Tuesday’s undisturbed price, but nearly a third less than that of a year ago. Siemens Energy might struggle to reach the 90 per cent squeeze out threshold, if enough minority investors hold out for a higher price.