Siemens Gamesa boss Eickholt: "The integration did not take place"

Siemens Energy has taken an important step forward in the multi-billion dollar complete takeover of the Spanish wind power subsidiary Gamesa.

The German energy technology group now holds 92.72 percent of Gamesa after the acceptance period for the public takeover bid has expired.

The acceptance rate was 77.88 percent.

Siemens Energy intends to delist Gamesa from the stock exchange and continues to pursue the goal of acquiring 100 percent of the share capital of Gamesa and fully integrating the company, Siemens Energy announced on Monday.

Ilka Kopplin

Business correspondent in Munich.

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"As long as there are other owners, Siemens Gamesa cannot be fully integrated legally," said Gamesa CEO Jochen Eickholt in an interview with the FAZ. Gamesa will therefore remain an independent entity for the time being.

"We assume that the delisting will be completed in the first quarter of 2023," Eickholt continued.

All further steps would then lie with Siemens Energy.

"We expect full ownership transfer to be completed by the end of 2023," he said.

A spokesman for Siemens Energy declined to comment.

In the future, processes and areas between Gamesa and Energy are to be more closely interlinked.

Siemens Energy expects annual cost synergies of EUR 300 million within three years after full integration.

"From my point of view, I can fully support that," said Eickholt.

The manager came to Gamesa in the spring as a reorganizer.

The company closed the past fiscal year with a loss of almost one billion euros, which also had a significant impact on Siemens Energy's balance sheet.

With the complete takeover, Energy wants to ensure full control in order to help the business to be successful again.

"The internal complexity must be reduced"

If Gamesa were taken off the stock exchange, there would be no reporting requirements, and some committees could also be filled more easily, said Eickholt.

“The internal complexity has to be reduced, that hasn't happened in the past.

The integration didn't take place in this form, you have to say that clearly." As early as 2017, the former Energy parent company Siemens AG took over a large stake in Gamesa, which has been part of the Siemens Energy portfolio since it was listed independently on the stock exchange.

In the spring, Siemens Energy then announced that it wanted to take over the remaining Gamesa shares of around 33 percent.

In the fall, Eickholt, who had previously reorganized the train division of Siemens AG, initiated the Mistral austerity program at Gamesa, which involves cutting 2,900 of the 27,000 jobs worldwide.

1900 of them are in Europe.

"The majority of the jobs relate to technical development and administration," said Eickholt.

There were major problems in the development of the new 5X platform because, among other things, undeveloped parts were installed.

However, a large number of developers does not necessarily improve the process, but can also clog it.

According to Eickholt, however, the downsizing program at Gamesa should not be seen as an anticipation of the forthcoming integration with Siemens Energy.