Siemens to Part With its Last Communication Operations

DUESSELDORF -(Dow Jones)- Siemens said Friday it will part with the remainder of its former communications unit, selling an 80.2% stake in cordless phone operation Siemens Home and Office Communications Devices, or SHC, to Arques Industries.

One of Siemens SHC's best-known products is the cordless phone Gigaset, which contributed two thirds of SHC's total revenue of EUR792 million in fiscal 2007. SHC's business focuses on cordless phones as well as broadband and home entertainment devices manufactured primarily in Germany.

Financial details weren't disclosed in a joint statement from Siemens and Arques.

As part of an employment guarantee, Arques has agreed to maintain SHC's German locations in Munich and Bocholt, Siemens said, adding that Arques can use the Siemens brand name for the next two years.

Arques said the closing of the transaction is planned for October 1, subject to regulatory approval.

Siemens carved out SHC as a stand-alone company in October 2005, and in recent months had said it was considering all options for the unit because it didn't see it as a core operation.

Siemens has started divesting parts of its former communication business in 2005 with the sale of its mobile phone operations to Taiwanese BenQ. In 2007, it put its mobile network business into a joint venture with Nokia, and in March this year, sold its wireless modules business to Joint Operations for Mobile Applications, or JOMA, a consortium of investors.

Last Tuesday Siemens said it will bring its Siemens Enterprise Networks, or SEN, unit into a joint venture with U.S. financial investor Gores Technology Group.

The sale of the 80.2% SHC stake to Arques is "rigorously continuing its strategy of focusing on the three sectors energy, industry and healthcare," Siemens said in a statement.

-By Archibald Preuschat, Dow Jones Newswires, +49 (0) 69 29725505, archibald.preuschat@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 1st August 2008