Siemens Gamesa calls EGM after parent’s tender offer, shrinks board
FRANKFURT/MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish-listed Siemens Gamesa on Tuesday called an extraordinary general meeting for Jan. 25 to let shareholders vote on a planned delisting following a successful tender offer by German parent Siemens Energy.
The wind turbine maker, in which Siemens Energy owns 67%, also said its board of directors would shrink to three members from ten, reflecting the parent’s push to simplify the group’s structure and get a better handle on operational problems.
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The invitation to the EGM, comes a day after Siemens Energy said it secured 92.72% in Siemens Gamesa as part of its tender offer, which still runs for another month.
That gives it enough time to push through a delisting and get a firmer grip on the troubled Spanish division, which has become a problem for its parent due to numerous profit warnings and issues around its new flagship onshore turbine model.
Going forward, the board will consist of Christian Bruch, Siemens Gamesa’s chairman and chief executive of Siemens Energy; Jochen Eickholt, CEO of Siemens Gamesa who joined from Siemens Energy; and non-executive proprietary director Anton Steiger.
Siemens Gamesa also confirmed the appointment of Richard Luijendijk, who has been with the company since 2015, as CEO of its onshore business as of Jan. 1, with Eickholt calling him in a statement “the right candidate to successfully execute our turnaround and return the onshore business to profitability”.
“The onshore business is a key part of Siemens Gamesa, and we need to put it back on the track to sustainable growth as soon as possible,” he said.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, editing by Andrei Khalip)